Foreign nationals found in Bihar electoral survey
2
Patna: In a development with potential political and electoral implications, a door-to-door verification campaign by the
Election Commission
(EC) has found the presence of people from Nepal, Bangladesh and Myanmar residing in Bihar.
According to EC sources, many of these people may have unlawfully entered the country's voting system, though officials suggest their names are unlikely to appear in the final electoral roll due to be published on Sept 30.
The revelations, it is learned, emerged during the ongoing special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls ahead of the upcoming Assembly elections in the state. Booth level officers (BLOs) began house-to-house verification on June 25.
Sources, who declined to be identified, said some people in question may have procured documents such as Aadhaar cards, ration cards and domicile certificates through fraudulent means. "Their names are under scrutiny and will not be included in the final electoral roll to be published on Sept 30," an EC source said on Sunday.
Citing field-level reports, an EC official told reporters that BLOs found "a considerable number of people from neighbouring countries" during their visits across the state.
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These findings have triggered political controversy, particularly in light of the EC's ongoing nationwide effort to weed out foreign nationals from voter lists by verifying places of birth.
Meanwhile, leader of the opposition in Bihar assembly, Tejashwi Prasad Yadav, has dismissed the claims as "rubbish." At a press conference in Patna on Sunday, he questioned the credibility of the sources behind the claim.
"Has the Election Commission issued any document or press release over the matter? This claim is based on 'sources' and I term them rubbish," Tejashwi said.
Meanwhile, the BJP hit back, claiming that the opposition, particularly Tejashwi, was nervous about losing what it termed an "illegal voter base".
"If Tejashwi had his way, he would allow citizens from Bangladesh and Pakistan to vote through postal ballots. Now the entire opposition is worried that they could lose a large number of illegal voters as a result of the ongoing revision of electoral rolls," said state BJP spokesperson Manoj Sharma on Sunday.
Sharma alleged that RJD supporters were involved in helping foreign nationals get their names included in the voter rolls. "Why is Tejashwi concerned about illegal migrants being weeded out, but not about Bihari migrants outside the state who have yet to be included in the electoral rolls?" Sharma asked.
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