Revision of Bihar poll rolls riddled with violations, should be cancelled: Jean Drèze
Bharat Jodo Abhiyan, Jan Jagran Shakti Sangathan, National Alliance of People's Movements (NAPM), Samar Charitable Trust, Swaraj Abhiyan, and Kosi Navnirman Manch jointly organised the Jan Sunwai at Bihar Industries Association (BIA)
The panel comprised Anjana Prakash (former judge, Patna High Court); Wajahat Habibullah (former Chief Information Commissioner); economist Jean Drèze; professor Nandini Sundar, sociologist at the Delhi School of Economics; Dr. D. M. Diwakar, former director A. N. Sinha Institute of Social Studies, Patna; and Bhanwar Meghwanshi founder of Forward Press.
The illiterate struggled
People from 14 districts participated and shared their experiences with the panel. Illiterate voters reported having to pay someone ₹100 to fill out the form.
Kanchan Devi of Katihar district said that she paid ₹100 to get her form filled. Rukma Devi from the same district had a similar complaint.
Ram Chandra Prasad, from Nalanda, said that he will challenge the process in court because he did not get an acknowledgement receipt after submitting the form with the booth level officer (BLO).
Phool Kumari Devi, a labourer from Katihar, said that the BLO asked her to get photo copies of the Aadhar and voter card which caused her a lot of trouble.
'I travelled 4km to get the passport photo. I had no money, which forced me to sell my ration rice. I did not work for two days to gather all the documents. Then because I was left with no rice I went hungry for two days,' Ms. Devi said.
Forms submitted without consent
In multiple instances, voters discovered that their forms had already been submitted by the BLO. Even their signatures on the forms were not taken.
A resident of Patna, Nirmal Kumar alleged that his relatives received threats from the district administration when they protested about their forms having been filled already, and submitted online.
Many said that enumeration forms were distributed not by BLOs, but by ward councillors, anganwadi workers, and sanitary staff. Many voters received no instructions on how to fill the form. In many households, a few members got the form and others did not.
People from the Kosi region said that their document have been washed away by multiple floods in their region.
SIR's objective not clear
After listening to the participants, Mr. Drèze said that the purpose of the SIR is unclear even after reading the Election Commission of India's (ECI) 20 page notification.
'The purpose is not clear but the result is clear, people would not be able to their exercise franchise. As per the survey of Bharat Jodo Abhiyan, 37% people do not have the documents sought by the Commission. You all understand which community, class, and supporters of political parties will be removed from the voter list,' Mr. Drèze said.
He further said that SIR is not practical and is impossible, so it should not be modified but cancelled.
'The SIR should be not modified but cancelled. There have been multiple violations of the ECI's own processes while completing targets under unreasonable pressure. This will worsen the quality of the voters' list and defeat the stated purpose of the ECI,'Mr. Drèze said.
Documents difficult to procure
Ms. Prakash said that the documents that the ECI seeks are impossible to submit for many rural Biharis.
Mr. Habibullah emphasised that the work of ECI is to encourage the people to vote and create a situation which helps voters but through the SIR, it seems that the poll body is creating problems for the voters and making their path difficult.
On other hand Mr. Meghwansi said that the SIR process is a threat to the Preamble of the Constitution and political equality.
Professor Diwakar said that today democracy is neither of the people, nor for the people, nor by the people and everyone has to strive to reclaim it.
Expressing apprehension Ms. Sunder said that the SIR poses a danger to democracy and she hoped that the people's voice would be heard.
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