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Business Standard
03-07-2025
- Politics
- Business Standard
Exercise done to ensure integrity: BJP on Bihar electoral roll revision
BJP National Spokesperson Shahzad Poonawalla on Thursday criticised the Congress for questioning the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voter lists in Bihar and said that the exercise is being done to ensure the integrity of the electoral process. "...When the same ECI conducts elections in Karnataka, Telangana and Himachal Pradesh, and Congress wins there, then they raise no questions. However, this same party raises questions about the electoral process in Maharashtra and Haryana. Those who are specialised in booth capturing are questioning the electoral revision, which is being done to ensure the integrity of the electoral process...," Poonawalla told ANI. A delegation of INDIA bloc leaders from 11 political parties met with the Election Commission of India (ECI) in the national capital on Wednesday to register their opposition to the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls currently underway in Bihar, calling it the "worst attack on the basic structure of the Constitution." Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi, part of the delegation that met Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi, questioned the timing of the SIR exercise, noting that it is being carried out only months before the upcoming Assembly elections. "Firstly, the last revision was in 2003. For 22 years, more than four of five Bihar elections have happened. Were all those elections faulty?... Secondly the Special Intensive Revision which was held in 2003, was held one year before the Lok Sabha Elections, two years before the Assembly election. Today you are having in July, a maximum period of one or two months for an electoral revision exercise of the second most largest electoral populated state in India, want to have it in one and a half to two months," the Congress leader told reporters after the meeting. Representatives of the Communist Party of India, CPI (Marxist-Leninist), Samajwadi Party, Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar), Rashtriya Janata Dal, Congress and other parties were present. The ECI has claimed that the SIR is only meant to verify voters and to identify any 'ineligible voters' ahead of the Assembly elections which are expected to be held later this year in Bihar. However, multiple political parties part of the Opposition, including Congress and Bihar's Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), have raised objections to the exercise, claiming that it will be used to deny people their constitutional rights. The Bihar Legislative Assembly elections are expected to be held later this year, however no official date has been announced by the ECI as of yet.
India Gazette
17-06-2025
- Politics
- India Gazette
"Peddler of liars, factory of fake news": Shahzad Poonawalla slams Congress over caste census remarks
New Delhi [India], June 17 (ANI): Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) spokesperson Shahzad Poonawalla on Tuesday launched a sharp attack on the Congress, accusing the party of spreading fake news and lies on the issue of caste census and India's global diplomatic matters. His remarks came amid an ongoing political debate over the central government's stand on caste-based data collection. In a briefing, Poonawalla said, 'Congress is a peddler of liars and a factory of fake news... Lying has become their characteristic... Their lies have been exposed -- first that India was not invited to G7 summit, and second that Pakistan's Asim Munir has been invited to the US Army Day and that it was a failure of India's policies.' The BJP leader further accused Congress of deliberately misleading the public over the government's stand on the caste census. He said, 'Now Congress is on another lie. They are saying that the central government is taking a U-turn on the caste census... Various press releases of the government say that the caste census will be done.' He also alleged that Congress has a history of neglecting the rights of the Other Backwards Classes (OBCs). 'Congress is spreading misinformation because it is in their DNA to take away the rights of the OBC,' Poonawalla added. The statement came as political tensions remained high over the caste census demand, with the Congress accusing the BJP of avoiding concrete commitments, while the BJP maintained that the government has been transparent about its position. Meanwhile, Union Home Minister Amit Shah reviewed preparations for the upcoming Census of India, which is now officially set to include caste enumeration, as per the official statement from the Ministry of Home Affairs. The minister hailed this move as a 'historic decision' that corrected a 'historical wrong.' The notification to conduct the Census was published in the official Gazette on Monday, following a high-level meeting held in Delhi, where the Home Minister reviewed the plan along with the Union Home Secretary, Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India (RG&CCI), and other senior officials. The Population Census 2027 will begin with a reference date of March 1, 2027, for most parts of the country. The reference date for snow-bound and non-synchronous areas such as Ladakh, Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, and Uttarakhand will be October 1, 2026. According to the official statement, around 34 lakh enumerators and supervisors and 1.3 lakh Census functionaries will be deployed for the exercise. This will be the first fully digital Census, using mobile apps and offering a self-enumeration option to citizens. The last Census was conducted in 2011. A new round scheduled for 2021 was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, despite all initial preparations being completed. (ANI)
