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The Hindu
2 days ago
- Politics
- The Hindu
Stop SIR in Bihar, refrain from ‘institutional arrogance', says INDIA bloc
The Indian National Developmental, Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) bloc parties on Sunday (July 27, 2025) urged the Election Commission of India (EC) to refrain from 'institutional arrogance', and stop the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral roll in Bihar, saying it has effectively become a process of establishing citizenship. Speaking at a joint press conference, along with Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation (CPI-ML-L) general secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) MP Manoj Jha, and Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) leader Nilotpal Basu, Congress Rajya Sabha member Abhishek Manu Singhvi said it was not an issue of 'political obstinacy' or 'institutional arrogance'. 'I humbly urge the Election Commission... it is not a matter of political obstinacy or institutional arrogance. Please reconsider is urging you,' Mr. Singhvi said. VIDEO | On SIR exercise in Bihar, Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi (@DrAMSinghvi) says, "If it is wrong in Bihar, then it is wrong in the entire country. Exclusion of 60 lakhs is not even a trailer, they will exclude more. Citizenship is the main agenda..."#SIR… — Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) July 27, 2025 About 10 elections had been held after 2003 and till then, all the ID cards had been valid throughout. 'In that case, what was the urgency in initiating the process in June-July, link it to an election,' he said, adding that the exercise could have been undertaken after yet another election (Bihar). The attempt to squeeze the entire process within two-three months was resulting in several errors, Mr. Singhvi said. Stating that the SIR had become a process of establishing citizenship, Mr. Singhvi asked if the Election Commission was authorised to do so. He cited a 1995 Supreme Court judgment to say that detailed legal provisions should be followed to take away anyone's citizenship. Mr. Bhattacharya said the EC's 'self-congratulatory' statements were confirming the INDIA bloc party's apprehensions. After the process started, the number of possible deletions from the voters' list kept increasing, and now it was about 65 lakh, he said. The Opposition parties had flagged concerns over about two crore alleged deletions. 'The EC has made one very misleading and false claim that it has shared this with the political parties. We have received block-level data about pending enumeration forms, which were not the details been shared with us, we could have cross-checked them before the draft was prepared...,' Mr. Bhattacharya said, stating that no door-to-door visits had been made during the EC's exercise. He also asked whether the EC's summary revision held in January 2025 was wrong, and if the claim of 22 lakh deaths was correct. Describing it as the biggest exercise of 'disenfranchisement since Independence', Mr. Jha said the EC had not consulted political parties on the SIR. The people whose names would be deleted were not being given the right to appeal. 'Opacity has become the hallmark of your (the EC's) functioning,' he said. No consultation with political parties had been carried out before initiating the SIR exercise, Mr. Basu said. He sought details of the survey on the basis of which the process was being carried out.
The Wire
2 days ago
- Politics
- The Wire
Bihar SIR ‘Exercise in Exclusion', Says Opposition INDIA Bloc
Politics Addressing a press conference in New Delhi, the opposition said that the EC must abandon its 'institutional arrogance' and roll back the SIR. New Delhi: The opposition INDIA bloc on Sunday (July 27) called the Election Commission (EC)'s ongoing special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in poll-bound Bihar an 'exercise in exclusion', demanding that the poll body give up its 'institutional arrogance' and stop the exercise. 'This is an exercise in exclusion. In the whole month, you could not find a single person who had to be included? There are different categories of exclusion, but it is highly surprising that they did not come across a single person who is eligible for inclusion,' said Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation general secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya while addressing a press conference in New Delhi. 'Between the summary revision which was conducted in January 2025 and July 2025 SIR, are we to believe that 22 lakh people have died in the last six months?' According to the EC's figures released on Sunday, a total of 65 lakh people have been found to be deceased, permanently shifted or not found, and another seven lakh were found to have registered in multiple places. The commission said that 7.24 crore enumeration forms have been collected at the end of its month-long exercise, which amounts to 91.69% of the total electors in the state. The press conference was addressed by Bhattacharya, Rashtriya Janata Dal MP Manoj Kumar Jha, Congress MP Abhishek Manu Singhvi and the Communist Party of India (Marxist)'s Nilotpal Basu. Singhvi questioned the 'institutional arrogance' of the EC and asked why the exercise could not be de-linked from the assembly elections due to be held in November. 'Please rethink your institutional arrogance. Everyone across the country is urging you to roll this back. What was the hurry to conduct this exercise just three months before the elections and link it to the elections? Why could this not be done after the elections? Many mistakes are being made because of this time limit,' he said. Singhvi said that amid questions being raised that the exercise was not one for the purification of electoral rolls but a citizenship verification drive, the EC has now made its stated objective clear. 'Earlier it was not clear, but now it is absolutely clear that this is a citizenship verification exercise by the EC. The Supreme Court's suggestion is as good as an order. If one is to accept the EC's argument that Aadhaar, ration card and EPIC card cannot be accepted, then that only means you want a proof of citizenship. That means your stated objective is to determine citizenship,' he said. Earlier this week, the EC in its affidavit in the Supreme Court said it has the authority to seek proof of citizenship and also turned down the court's suggestion that Aadhaar, voter identity and ration cards be considered as valid documents in its controversial exercise, which has been criticised for its risk of mass disenfranchisement and exclusion. 'Because you have said citizenship cannot be determined by ration card, voter ID card or Aadhaar card. So the question arises, has this right been given to the EC?' said Singhvi. Jha said that the exercise was started without consulting political parties, while 'opacity had become a hallmark' of the EC's functioning. 'When the chief election commissioner [Gyanesh Kumar] took over, he had said emphatically that none of his decisions would be taken without consulting political parties. I think in the last 22 years, there has been no bigger decision than this, but no political party was consulted. On June 24 the exercise was announced and on June 25 it was started," he said. Jha said that reports had shown booth-level officers filling out forms or sitting at a party office and signing forms, as well as instances of forms not being filled duly. 'This is a form of constitutional fraud. If my form can be filled without my sign or fingerprint and submitted, and on the basis of this you call it a cleaning exercise, then sorry to say, opacity has become a hallmark of the functioning of the EC,' he said. The opposition parties demanded that the exercise be stopped, with time still in hand. The Supreme Court meanwhile is slated to continue hearing the petitions challenging the exercise on Monday (July 28). The Wire is now on WhatsApp. Follow our channel for sharp analysis and opinions on the latest developments.
Hindustan Times
3 days ago
- Politics
- Hindustan Times
BJP orchestrated VP Jagdeep Dhankhar's exit over Justice Varma: Cong
The Congress on Saturday accused the BJP-led government of orchestrating former Vice-President Jagdeep Dhankhar's resignation to maintain control over the Justice Yashwant Varma impeachment process, alleging his only 'mistake' was showing independence in constitutional matters. Jagdeep Dhankhar quit as Vice President of India abruptly on July 21, with two years remaining in his term.(X/@VPIndia/File) Senior Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi questioned the government's decision to restart the impeachment motion in the Lok Sabha despite Dhankhar having already initiated the process in the Rajya Sabha, calling it 'institutional sabotage and constitutional transgression.' 'His real mistake was the showing of some minimal independence in office,' Singhvi said at a press conference, describing Dhankhar's resignation as the 'wrapping up' of a political exit disguised 'as a constitutional lie.' The party also hit out at the BJP-led NDA government for its 'remarkably eloquent silence' on the Justice Varma case, with Singhvi criticising the silence of both Dhankhar and Union minister Kiren Rijiju over recent days as 'the most eloquent and telling in itself.' The controversy centres on competing impeachment notices against Justice Varma, who faces corruption charges after charred currency bundles were allegedly found at his official residence following a fire on March 14. A Supreme Court inquiry panel concluded in a 64-page report that Varma had 'covert or active control' over the cash, though no direct link was established. Singhvi challenged Rijiju's statement that no motion was admitted in the Rajya Sabha, asking: 'What else is required for the admission of the motion? Does the statute prescribe that like the Supreme Court or high court judge you must write a long judgment admitting the motion?' He recounted how Dhankhar, on July 21, had confirmed with law minister Arjun Ram Meghwal that numbers were satisfied to move a similar motion in the Lok Sabha. The Judges (Inquiry) Act, 1968, permits joint inquiries when impeachment motions are moved in both Houses and meet the required threshold. Once admitted, the presiding officer must form a three-member committee comprising the chief justice of India or a Supreme Court judge, a high court Chief Justice, and a distinguished jurist. HT previously reported that Dhankhar's move to initiate the process in the Upper House caught the government off guard, as it preferred the motion to originate in the Lok Sabha, prompting his sudden resignation. On July 22, Speaker Om Birla received a notice signed by 152 MPs, whilst Dhankhar announced that 63 Opposition MPs had submitted a similar notice in the Rajya Sabha. 'This government is trying the intersection of invincibility notions with the notion of ego, to say, 'We announce first in the Lok Sabha',' Singhvi said, alleging the BJP was undermining constitutional cooperation between Houses in its 'pettiness' and 'control-freak' approach. The Congress leader warned that procedural divisions between the Houses could provide Justice Varma with grounds to challenge the impeachment process, asking: 'Why is there a unilateralism and division among two Houses to possibly give him a new ground of alleging procedural and substantive infirmities?' The BJP has not responded to the Congress allegations.
Indian Express
3 days ago
- Politics
- Indian Express
Congress slams ‘Govt's selective outrage, silence on two judges'
Continuing its offensive against the government over Jagdeep Dhankhar's resignation as Vice President, the Congress Saturday said the government was indulging in 'petty politics' rather than bothering about constitutional principles and good governance by not admitting the Opposition motion to remove Justice Yashwant Varma in Rajya Sabha. The Congress also said that 'it appears Mr Dhankhar's showing of some minimal independence, possibly belatedly, was his real mistake. No other mistake.' At a press conference at the Congress HQs Congress MP and spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi also alleged that the government was adopting 'double standards' on the issue of judicial accountability by acting against Justice Varma but ignoring the motion against Justice Shekhar Yadav of Allahabad HC, who allegedly made a hate speech at a VHP event in December last year. Singhvi said Dhankhar's resignation was a 'political exit camouflaged as a constitutional lie'. He said the Congress is 'very concerned' about the 'selective outrage and selective silence on the issue of two judges — Justice Varma and Justice Yadav'. 'This is typical of BJP's double standards and yet another example of BJP's and the Modi Sarkar's 'theatre of the absurd'. The BJP's game of motions is less about law and more about optics… 'On judicial propriety, on anti-corruption movement and on judicial accountability, the BJP's mantra is 'talk the talk, never walk the talk, Keep talking the talk'. It is the worst example of doublespeak and hypocrisy on this entire episode,' he said. Singhvi also claimed that while creating this 'confusion' on not taking up motions in both Houses to jointly constitute a committee, the government is 'either deliberately or at best unwittingly, giving an additional ground or excuse to the legal challenges which Justice Varma has mounted and is entitled to mount'. Singhvi said that on July 21, Congress and other parties moved a constitutional motion in Rajya Sabha against Justice Varma and, in particular, for creating a statutory inquiry committee, as required by the statute. He said the motion of the Opposition had 63 signatures across parties. 'Additionally, another motion had the signatures of 152 Lok Sabha members also cross-party,' he said. '… When the Vice President was speaking, he was talking of a motion, physical thing in his hand and numerical requirements being satisfied,' he said. He added that as per the Act of Parliament if there are two motions in the Houses, then the two have to be both joined to form a statutory committee. Singhvi said there is no doubt in the mind of anyone familiar with parliamentary affairs that Dhankhar intended to make the motion the property of the House that day and clearly proceed with it in collaboration with LS. 'Today, all this drama is being staged for what? The Modi government is insecure because it can't control the narrative,' he said. 'It shows many facets of this government… it ignores the clear cooperation, collegiality, the togetherness of both the Houses intended by proviso to section 3 of the Act of Parliament,' he said. 'Here, this government and this ruling party's talking of competition, a race as to who declares and announces first, was this the statutory intent.'
Time of India
3 days ago
- Politics
- Time of India
Congress slams govt for ‘institutional sabotage' over Justice Yashwant Varma impeachment
New Delhi: The Congress on Saturday accused the government of " institutional sabotage " for refusing to admit the Opposition-backed impeachment motion against Justice Yashwant Varma in the Rajya Sabha , while proceeding with a similar motion in the Lok Sabha signed by both ruling and Opposition MPs. Senior Congress leader and lawyer Abhishek Singhvi said the Centre had ignored former RS Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar's move to make the Opposition motion "property of the House" before his resignation. He warned that the government's conduct could give Justice Varma procedural grounds to challenge the impeachment. Explore courses from Top Institutes in Please select course: Select a Course Category Operations Management Product Management healthcare PGDM Finance Public Policy Leadership Healthcare others Data Science CXO Technology Degree Digital Marketing Management MBA Data Analytics Data Science MCA Project Management Cybersecurity Design Thinking Artificial Intelligence Others Skills you'll gain: Quality Management & Lean Six Sigma Analytical Tools Supply Chain Management & Strategies Service Operations Management Duration: 10 Months IIM Lucknow IIML Executive Programme in Strategic Operations Management & Supply Chain Analytics Starts on Jan 27, 2024 Get Details Rejecting Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju 's claim that the RS motion was never admitted, Singhvi asked: "Didn't Chairman Dhankhar, by his words, make the issue property of the House? If not, why did he consult the law minister on introducing similar motions in both Houses?" by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Want to know more? click here Undo Singhvi said instead of appreciating bipartisan cooperation on Justice Varma's impeachment, the ruling party was treating it as "a race to show who did it first," displaying "ego and invincibility notions." He also linked the episode to Dhankhar's abrupt resignation, questioning if he was forced out and if MPs were pressured to sign additional papers. Singhvi added that the Congress had first raised corruption allegations in the Varma case, while the BJP was silent. Live Events Singhvi further alleged double standards, pointing to the government's inaction on a pending impeachment notice against Justice Shekhar Yadav over hate speech. He said the AICC legal department would hold a conference on August 2 on challenges to the Constitution.
