RJD moves SC against EC's revision of electoral rolls in Bihar
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Time of India
28 minutes ago
- Time of India
Maya urges EC for fair Bihar polls
1 2 Lucknow: BSP president Mayawati on Monday said the murder of Gopal Khemka, a prominent industrialist and BJP leader, in Patna, has heated up the politics of Bihar "in a new way" and the election commission must take steps to ensure peaceful elections in the state. She also reiterated that BSP will contest the upcoming Bihar elections solo. In her tweet on X, she said, "Although in Bihar, cases of atrocities, murders, and caste-based exploitation, especially against Dalits, backward classes, exploited, poor, and their women, and depriving people of these classes of their rights have always been a topic of discussion, the recent murder of Gopal Khemka has heated up the politics of the state in a new way along with the deteriorating law and order situation in the state. If the EC takes cognizance of this bloodshed and initiates appropriate action right now, it will be better for conducting peaceful elections in the state." She said: "During the special intensive revision of the voters' list in Bihar before the elections, all these violent incidents are being done by whom and for who's selfish interests? Not only is the coalition govt of the state in the dock regarding this, but the politics has also become quite volatile. It remains to be seen what effect it will have on political equations and elections in the state." She further said that BSP is a party of Bahujans, especially Dalits, other backward classes, deprived, exploited, poor and labourers and is fighting Bihar elections on its own under the principle and policy of depending on the physical and financial strength of its cadres and well-wishers. "That is why an appeal is made to the EC that whatever strict steps are needed to free Bihar elections from misuse of govt machinery as well as muscle, money, and criminal power should be taken in time so that the poll campaign proves to be free and fair," she said.
India Today
3 hours ago
- India Today
26/11 plotter Tahawwur Rana exposes Pakistan Army's terror links
The Election Commission's special intensive revision of electoral rolls in Bihar has sparked controversy, with opposition parties filing petitions in the Supreme Court challenging the move. The revision requires voters added since 2003 to submit proof of date and place of birth, effectively their citizenship. Opposition parties claim this targets poor, Dalit and Muslim voters and could lead to disenfranchisement. The EC maintains the revision is working smoothly, with 2.88 crore forms collected covering 37% of Bihar's voters. However, ground reports show many citizens struggling to provide the required documents. Former Election Commissioner Ashok Lavasa says while roll purification is legitimate, the timing and new procedures raise questions. The Supreme Court will hear the petitions on Thursday. Concerns have been raised about the Election Commission of India's voter registration drive. A former Election Commissioner states there are practical and conceptual issues that need clarification, such as the acceptance criteria for enumeration forms and required documents. He calls for establishing open and credible channels of communication to address doubts, though stops short of saying the EC faces a crisis. The discussion also touches on allegations by some politicians that the EC is acting as a rubber stamp for the government, which the former official suggests should not be assumed without evidence.
Time of India
4 hours ago
- Time of India
Opposition united in SC on SIR: 'Will snatch votes of lakhs'
NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to hear challenges by Congress and and 10 other opposition parties, including DMK and NCP (Sharad Pawar), to the 's decision for special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now Appearing before a bench of Justices Sudhanshu Dhulia and Joymalya Bagchi, senior advocates Kapil Sibal, A M Singhvi and Gopal Sankarnarayanan pleaded to the court to grant an urgent hearing as the revision process had already started and lakhs would be disenfranchised if the exercise was not stayed. They said the squeezed timeline fixed by the EC was impractical and it was impossible to complete the process in such a short span of time. After a brief hearing, the apex court agreed to examine their plea and posted it for Thursday (July 10). are likely to be held in November. The petitions have been filed on behalf of Congress, NCP (Sharad Pawar), CPI, CPM, CPI (ML), DMK, SP, Shiv Sena (UBT), JMM and RJD. Besides, TMC MP Mahua Moitra, NGOs - Association for Democratic Reforms and People's Union for Civil Liberties - and a few residents of Bihar have also filed petitions against the EC's drive. The petitioners took the identical stand that the timeline fixed by EC was not practical and would lead to disenfranchisement of lakhs of voters, particularly migrant workers and people from marginalised communities who do not have requisite documents and may not be able to procure it within the short span fixed by EC. Congress general secretary KC Venugopal posted on X: 'It (SIR) has wreaked havoc across villages and towns of Bihar — giving crores of voters anxiety about whether their right to vote will be stolen. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now This is mass-scale rigging and mischief being carried out by EC, under instructions from ruling regime.' RJD MP Manoj Jha sought direction to EC to conduct the forthcoming polls in Bihar on the basis of the existing electoral rolls. Though at present SIR is confined to Bihar, parties apprehend that it could be replicated in other states too. Moitra urged SC to restrain EC for undertaking such an exercise. 'The impugned order is discriminatory, unreasonable and manifestly arbitrary and violates Articles 14, 21, 325 and 326. The order is a tool of institutionalised disenfranchisement. It is submitted that it is being used to justify aggressive and opaque revisions of electoral rolls that disproportionately target Muslim, Dalit and poor migrant communities, as such, they are not random patterns but it is engineered exclusions. The present SIR process is not only hasty and ill-timed, but has the effect of disenfranchising crores of voters, thereby robbing them of their constitutional right to vote. Moreover, this exercise has been launched during monsoon season in Bihar, when many districts are affected by floods and local population is displaced, thereby making it difficult and almost impossible for a large section of population to meaningfully participate in the process,' Jha said in his plea. Seeking the court's direction to set aside the EC's order, Moitra in her petition, filed through advocate Neha Rathi, submitted that the order unlawfully shifted the burden of proving eligibility from the state to the individual elector and arbitrarily excludes commonly accepted identity documents such as Aadhaar and ration cards. PUCL, in its petition through advocate Talha Abdul Rahman, questioned EC's timing, alleging Bihar's massive migrant population faces systematic exclusion as workers lacking local address proofs struggle with complex procedures from distant locations, possibly missing compressed timelines due to work commitments.
