
‘Mayawati was the best for farmers,' says BKU leader Rakesh Tikait
Tikait, who was in Sultanpur to attend a private programme, said, 'Those who are from outside will have problems, those who are from there (Bihar) will have no problems.' On Yogi Adityanath's eight years as chief minister of the state, Tikait said, 'Mayawati was the number one Chief Minister for farmers… she did a better job for the sugarcane farmers.' The Election Commission of India on June 24 ordered a Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in Bihar, with an aim to weed out fake names on the electoral rolls.

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Time of India
10 minutes ago
- Time of India
Mass disenfranchisement is serious issue: Chidambaram slams ECI over Bihar SIR row
Senior Congress leader P. Chidambaram has criticized the Election Commission of India (ECI) regarding the Special Intensive Revision exercise. He questioned the ECI's conclusion that lakhs of voters in Bihar have permanently migrated, leading to the deletion of their names from the voter list. Chidambaram also raised concerns about the reported addition of 6. Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads Criticising the Election Commission of India (ECI) on the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise, Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram on Sunday questioned as to how poll body come to the conclusion that several lakh voters in Bihar have "permanently migrated" resulting in "deletion" of their names from voters a post on X, Chidambaram said that mass disenfranchisement is a serious issue and questioned whether any inquiry was done by the ECI to ascertain the "permanently migrated" status of enrolled voters in Bihar."How did the ECI come to the conclusion that several lakh persons, whose names are in the current electoral rolls of Bihar, must be excluded because they had "permanently migrated" out of the state? That is the question Before you reach the conclusion that a person has "permanently migrated" out of a State, should not a thorough enquiry be conducted into each case?"How could such an enquiry involving 37 lakh persons have been conducted in a period of 30 days? Mass disenfranchisement is a serious issue, and that is why the Supreme Court is hearing the petitions," he in the day, the Senior Congress leader had criticised the ECI over the 'reports' of the addition of approximately 6.5 lakh migrant workers to Tamil Nadu's electoral rolls and called it "alarming" and "patently illegal."In a post on X, Chidambaram wrote," The SIR exercise is getting curiouser and curiouser While 65 lakh voters are in danger of being disenfranchised in Bihar, reports of "adding" 6.5 lakh persons as voters in Tamil Nadu is alarming and patently illegal Calling them "permanently migrated" is an insult to the migrant workers and a gross interference in the right of the electorate of Tamil Nadu to elect a government of its choice Why should the migrant worker not return to Bihar (or his/her home state) to vote in the State Assembly election, as they usually do? Does not the migrant worker return to Bihar at the time of the Chhath puja festival? A person to be enrolled as a voter must have a fixed and permanent legal home."Meanwhile, the Election Commission of India (ECI) on Sunday said that not a single claim or objection has been filed by any political party with respect to draft rolls."From August 1 to August 3, 3:00 PM, all political parties put together, have filed zero claims and objections for the addition of the names of eligible electors and deletion of the names of ineligible election," said the poll panel.


Time of India
10 minutes ago
- Time of India
Congress to reveal 'serious malpractices' of ECI on August 5 in Bengaluru: KC Venugopal
Congress MP KC Venugopal accused the Election Commission of undermining democratic values and excluding voters from Bihar's draft rolls. He said the party will reveal "serious malpractices" in Bengaluru on August 5. Opposition INDIA bloc leaders will meet in Delhi on August 7. The EC, conducting a special revision, said 35 lakh voters were untraceable or migrated. Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads Slamming the Election Commission for "systematically targeting the democratic values", Congress MP KC Venugopal on Sunday stated that his party is going to reveal the "serious malpractices" of the poll body in Bengaluru on August speaking to ANI, alleged that the names of many voters have been "excluded" from the draft electoral rolls for Bihar recently released by the further said that there will be a get-together of opposition INDIA bloc leaders on August 7 in Delhi."There will be a get-together on August 7 in Delhi. INDIA alliance leaders will be there," Venugopal said."We are protesting against SIR inside and outside Parliament. The Election Commission is systematically targeting the democratic values of this country. We expected neutrality from the Election Commission, but they are not doing so. The names of many voters have been excluded from the list in Bihar. How can a fair democracy run like this? We are going to reveal the serious malpractices of the Election Commission in Bengaluru on August 5," he added. ECI released the draft electoral rolls for Bihar on Friday afternoon, following the completion of the Enumeration Phase under the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) said the public has one month to submit claims and objections, assuring that "no name will be removed from the draft voter list without a stated reason."The draft list, covering all 243 Assembly Constituencies and 90,712 polling booths, was shared with all political parties by the 38 District Election Officers (DEOs) across the ECI in a press note said, "As per SIR order, after the completion of the Enumeration Phase from 24 June to 25 July 2025, the draft Electoral Rolls have been published for Bihar on 1 August 2025."A detailed list of electors whose names appeared in the June 24 rolls but were missing in the new draft was also shared with political parties for 1.60 lakh Booth Level Agents (BLAs) nominated by District Presidents of 12 political parties actively participated in the process on the commission enabled electors to verify their names through the official link -- -- using their EPIC numbers. They were also allowed to file claims and objections for inclusion or deletion of names through the same portal. In a drive to ensure accurate and updated voter identity cards, the ECI urged all voters to submit new photographs to their Booth Level Officers (BLOs) by September 1, Election Commission of India is currently conducting a Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar ahead of the upcoming assembly exercise has sparked a political row, with the opposition INDIA bloc alleging that the revision process could lead to the deletion of a large number of to data from the revision exercise in Bihar, around 35 lakh electors have either migrated permanently or could not be traced at their registered addresses. The figures have raised serious concerns about the integrity of the voter list as the Election Commission prepares for a nationwide revision of electoral is also worth noting that a large number of untraceable electors have been found during the SIR in per government data from 2017, an estimated 2.04 crore Bangladeshi nationals and Rohingyas are believed to be living illegally in India, adding another layer of complexity to concerns over voter list accuracy. As of January 1, 2024, India had 96.88 crore registered voters for the General Elections, making the outcome of the nationwide revision exercise highly significant.


Economic Times
10 minutes ago
- Economic Times
Mass disenfranchisement is serious issue: Chidambaram slams ECI over Bihar SIR row
Criticising the Election Commission of India (ECI) on the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise, Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram on Sunday questioned as to how poll body come to the conclusion that several lakh voters in Bihar have "permanently migrated" resulting in "deletion" of their names from voters list. In a post on X, Chidambaram said that mass disenfranchisement is a serious issue and questioned whether any inquiry was done by the ECI to ascertain the "permanently migrated" status of enrolled voters in Bihar. "How did the ECI come to the conclusion that several lakh persons, whose names are in the current electoral rolls of Bihar, must be excluded because they had "permanently migrated" out of the state? That is the question Before you reach the conclusion that a person has "permanently migrated" out of a State, should not a thorough enquiry be conducted into each case? "How could such an enquiry involving 37 lakh persons have been conducted in a period of 30 days? Mass disenfranchisement is a serious issue, and that is why the Supreme Court is hearing the petitions," he added. Earlier in the day, the Senior Congress leader had criticised the ECI over the 'reports' of the addition of approximately 6.5 lakh migrant workers to Tamil Nadu's electoral rolls and called it "alarming" and "patently illegal." In a post on X, Chidambaram wrote," The SIR exercise is getting curiouser and curiouser While 65 lakh voters are in danger of being disenfranchised in Bihar, reports of "adding" 6.5 lakh persons as voters in Tamil Nadu is alarming and patently illegal Calling them "permanently migrated" is an insult to the migrant workers and a gross interference in the right of the electorate of Tamil Nadu to elect a government of its choice Why should the migrant worker not return to Bihar (or his/her home state) to vote in the State Assembly election, as they usually do? Does not the migrant worker return to Bihar at the time of the Chhath puja festival? A person to be enrolled as a voter must have a fixed and permanent legal home."Meanwhile, the Election Commission of India (ECI) on Sunday said that not a single claim or objection has been filed by any political party with respect to draft rolls. "From August 1 to August 3, 3:00 PM, all political parties put together, have filed zero claims and objections for the addition of the names of eligible electors and deletion of the names of ineligible election," said the poll panel.