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The Hindu
4 days ago
- Politics
- The Hindu
The parameters of ‘success' in Bihar's poll roll revision
Measuring success is complicated; assessing the impact of one's action can be even more challenging. The desire to be successful is different from the desperation to demonstrate success. Stakeholders have different yardsticks for measuring performance depending on their interest leaving the vital question 'how does one measure one's own success?' The Election Commission of India (ECI) could perhaps be in a trilemma in the wake of its June 24, 2025 announcement of its Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of Electoral Rolls in Bihar, caught among political parties, citizens, the judiciary, and its own conscience. Once again, it finds itself in an avoidable imbroglio, responding to the judiciary's questions arising out of the justified anxiety of millions of electors, valid apprehensions of neutral observers and unverified suspicion of political interest groups. The ECI embarked on a seemingly laudable and perfectly legal exercise to purify electoral rolls, declaring its resolve to include all 'eligible' and exclude 'ineligible' persons. The underlying assumption was that some 'ineligible' people had infiltrated the electoral rolls, escaping detection during its due process of documentary and physical scrutiny that Electoral Registration Officers carry out before listing anyone in the electoral rolls. Even the mandatory periodic revisions could not filter them out over the years. No one could possibly object to this effort, however formidable the task. Yet, the ECI found itself facing a barrage of opposition from political parties and civil society organisations for undertaking this mammoth exercise and imposing an impossible demand on clueless citizens in Bihar as they prepare to exercise their most powerful right — of electing their representatives. It is akin to asking for a marriage certificate after years of happy married life with children as proof of a legal union. An institution of repute To be sure, if there is one organisation in the country that is capable of carrying out gigantic exercises, it would, without doubt, be the ECI. From preparing the first electoral rolls in the 1950s in trying circumstances, to updating the rolls necessitated by the reorganisation of States in 1956 when it was suggested that the term of the House be extended to allow the ECI enough time to revise the rolls. The ECI did not want a constitutional amendment because of its inability to complete a mandatory requirement and lived up to the challenge. Since then, it has repeatedly demonstrated its capabilities in handling mega tasks with astounding success. Whether it is enrolling a billion people or setting up a million polling stations, mobilising over 18 lakh polling officials for conducting elections and training them, or dealing with moving 30 lakh electronic voting machines, the ECI has done it with aplomb, ably supported by the government machinery. In the process, it has earned the gratitude of an entire country and the envy of democracies across the world. Countries that may have the spirit but not the systems have often looked upon the ECI as a model in creating standard operating procedures, in galvanising resources, and its effective consultative approach in building consensus among political parties. This has earned the ECI the trust of voters and imparted it a credibility that has been acknowledged by the media, supported by civil society organisations and earned it the respect of the judiciary. Indeed, some have referred to it as 'gold standard', belying the cynics who believe that 'all that glitters is not gold.' The Bihar exercise It is in this backdrop that the sudden announcement by the ECI to carry out a purge of the Bihar electoral rolls has invited unpleasant reactions. As opponents question the ECI's motives of raising the spectre of mass disenfranchisement, the ECI is in overdrive trying to demonstrate the ease with which this apparently unwieldy operation involving nearly eight crore registered electors in Bihar is being completed. Meanwhile, it has eased some stringent procedures, allowing those enrolled after 2003 to use the entries of their parents in the 2003 electoral rolls to support their citizenship claim. It has also allowed Booth Level Officers (BLO) to accept enumeration forms without the prescribed document to prove the eligibility of the post-2003 electors. The relaxations by the ECI obviously ramped up the daily submission of enumeration forms giving the ECI the basis for claiming success of its operations and the 'support' of the affected electors. This, supposedly, would deflate the clamour of the complainants and perhaps convince the higher judiciary that the political sound and fury signifies nothing. It, however, remains unclear how the BLOs will 'recommend' for inclusion in the draft roll such electors whose forms are not accompanied by documents and how the Electoral Registration Officer/Assistant Electoral Registration Officer decides their eligibility in the absence of those documents. Will the ECI ask such electors to provide the proof of their eligibility/citizenship after the draft roll is published on August 1? If it agrees to expand the list of prescribed documents, as suggested by the Supreme Court of India (to consider the Aadhaar card, Electoral Photo Identity Card, or EPIC and ration card), will it not simply amount to verification of identity, and not citizenship? Are we then not back to square one? Will the indicator of the ECI's success be the number of 'duly filled' forms submitted along with 'self-attested documents' and electors readmitted to the rolls that were supposed to be purified? Or, will its success be the number of 'ineligible' electors disenfranchised? Those who are dead, who have migrated or have enrolled twice should have been weeded out in the normal course. Did their exclusion warrant this extraordinary exercise? On presumption of citizenship By ascribing presumption of citizenship to the electors in the 2003 list, is the ECI claiming that after its current SIR, all those in the electoral rolls will be accepted by the government as citizens as in the Citizenship Act and no one's credentials will hereafter be questioned? Is the government willing to accept this presumption? No individual is responsible for being born where she is, nor for creating documentary evidence of the date and place of her birth, parentage or citizenship. The authority empowered by the law is. Like many countries, India too has a law under which it is not the ECI that is designated as the competent authority: at least not as yet. However, broad the ECI's shoulders are, they may not be strong enough to carry someone else's burden. Let us see for whom the bell tolls in Bihar. Ashok Lavasa is former Election Commissioner and Union Finance Secretary of India
New Indian Express
05-07-2025
- Politics
- New Indian Express
NGO, ADR move Supreme Court challenging revision of electoral rolls in Bihar
"The SIR order if not set aside, can arbitrarily and without due process disenfranchise lakhs of voters from electing their representatives, thereby disrupting free and fair elections and democracy in the country, which are part of basic structure of the Constitution," said the NGO ADR, in its plea filed in the top court. It added that the documentation process requirements of the directive, lack of due process, as well as the unreasonably short timeline for the said SIR of Electoral Roll in Bihar, further make this exercise bound to result in the removal of names of lakhs of genuine voters from electoral rolls, leading to their disenfranchisement. Seeking to quash the direction of ECI's SIR order of 24, June 2025, the ADR said, the ECI, by doing so, has shifted the onus of being on the voters' list from the State to citizens. It has excluded identification documents such as Aadhar or ration cards which further make marginalised communities and the poor more vulnerable to exclusion from voting. "The Declaration as required under the SIR process is violative of Article 326 in so far as it requires a voter to provide documents to prove his/her citizenship and also citizenships of his/her mother or father, failing which his/her name would not be added to the draft electoral roll and can be deleted from the same," the ADR said. Terming the ECI's order as unreasonable and impractical timeline to conduct SIR in Bihar, the petitioner, ADR said that with close proximity to state elections which are due in November 2025, there are lakhs of citizens (whose names did not appear in 2003 ER) who do not possess the documents as required under the SIR order.
Yahoo
29-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Marco Rubio Just Opened a New Front in Trump's War on Higher Education
The Trump administration is escalating its war on international students by moving to cancel the visas of Chinese students in the U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced Wednesday night that the White House would work to 'aggressively revoke' visas of Chinese nationals who are studying in 'critical fields' or have ties to the Chinese Communist Party. Rubio also said that the State Department would 'enhance scrutiny' of all visa applications from China, including Hong Kong. The administration's decision will likely escalate tensions between China and the U.S. and cause issues on university campuses, as students from China make up the second-largest nationality among international students in the country. In 2024, 20 percent of student visas to the U.S. were granted to Chinese nationals, and there are an estimated 275,000 Chinese students currently in the U.S. Universities across the country depend on Chinese students in their research laboratories, and the fact that many pay full tuition is of great financial benefit. Chinese students electing to further their education in the U.S. are often the most academically talented students. It's not clear what Rubio meant by 'critical fields,' although U.S. officials have been worried about Chinese researchers in the physical sciences, according to The New York Times. Rubio also didn't elaborate on how the U.S. will determine affiliations and loyalties to the CCP, leaving open the possibility that authorities could draw such conclusions on individuals without evidence, as they have with Salvadoran and Venezuelan immigrants regarding gang membership. The move is latest salvo on international students by the White House, which has sought to revoke visas and deport students from other countries on dubious grounds ranging from alleged antisemitism, allegedly smuggling embryos into the country that were actually brought for research purposes, and various minor infractions, including one case of a Japanese student who caught too many fish on a church trip. Rubio's announcement is also the latest provocation of China by President Trump, who inflamed ties with Beijing with his ill-planned tariffs before backtracking earlier this month. Will China retaliate to this attack on its students in the U.S., and will Trump stick to this decision or once again chicken out?
Yahoo
25-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
After Mecklenburg Democrats' post-election turmoil, will party pick a new leader?
Mecklenburg Democrats are poised to pick their next leader after months of turmoil following the 2024 election. The Mecklenburg County Democratic Party will hold its convention Saturday, including electing the county party's next chair. Candidates include former state representative and Council of State candidate Wesley Harris, who is challenging current Chairman Drew Kromer. Kromer faced criticism and calls for resignation in the wake of the 2024 general election over a staffer's departure and allegations the party neglected African American voters. He took office two years earlier pledging to increase fundraising and bring in more professional staff, but many Democrats were disappointed once again with turnout levels in deep blue Mecklenburg. Harris has campaigned on addressing 'dysfunction that has led our core voters to lose trust in our ability to lead.' Whoever is elected chair will lead the county party through the 2026 midterms as it looks to defend Democratic dominance in local races and respond to the Trump administration's sweeping policy shifts. Precincts get different numbers of votes based on how many votes were cast for the Democratic nominee for governor in each precinct in the last election, according to state party rules. Kromer, first elected in 2023, told the Observer when he took office his key goals were to increase the party's community presence and increase fundraising to pay for an executive director and additional staff to 'professionalize' the party. A Charlotte native, he's a graduate of Davidson College and UNC Chapel Hill and a lawyer by trade. Kromer previously served as vice chair of the College Democrats of America, a delegate to the 2020 Democratic National Convention and a member of the state Democratic Party's Executive Committee. Harris represented parts of southern Mecklenburg from 2019 to 2024 in the North Carolina House. He ran unsuccessfully for state treasurer in 2024, losing to Republican Brad Briner by a margin of 47.5% to 52.5%. He grew up in Taylorsville and Statesville and graduated from Clemson University before a career as an economist and tax consultant. Harris told the Observer after announcing his campaign for party chair that his statewide candidate allowed him to see what strategies are working, or not working, for other county parties. He said he'd put those lessons to use as a party chair. 'Don't show up a couple of weeks before the election knocking on doors,' he said. 'Show up months before, years before the big elections, and just be part of the community.' No other candidates appear to have publicly announced campaigns. Turnout and community relations have been points of contention among local Democrats since the 2024 general election. Despite record-setting fundraising and an optimistic message about efforts to get voters to the polls in 2024, voter turnout in heavily Democratic Mecklenburg once again trailed the rest of North Carolina as Democrats failed to flip the battleground state for presidential candidate Kamala Harris. Days later, Mecklenburg Democrats executive director Monifa Drayton resigned from the party with a letter that compared her experience to that of 'professional Black women during the Jim Crow era.' Multiple Black precincts chairs, including the first vice president of the county party's African American Caucus, told the Observer after Drayton's resignation party leadership, including Kromer, failed to heed warnings about lackluster grassroots organizing in communities with large numbers of Black voters. The caucus later released a statement calling on Kromer to resign. Kromer previously pushed back on those claims and calls for resignation, saying the party is focused on advancing new strategies for organizing and outreach. He said the party made investments in the African American community during the 2024 election cycle. 'What we've seen from the national results is that the party has a lot of work to do to connect with voters and to ensure that our candidates can win up and down the ballot,' he said previously. Harris said previously he'd spoken with some African American community leaders about post-2024 concerns and wants to 'build trust back.' 'We're a diverse party. Having a diverse party like that has a lot of different viewpoints, and real leadership is bringing those viewpoints together for a common goal,' he said. County party members will gather at 10 a.m. Saturday at Little Rock AME Zion Church for their yearly convention. In addition to electing county-level officers, attendees will elect delegates to the state party's executive committee and discuss resolutions and the party's platform.
Time of India
22-04-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
GVMC set to elect its new mayor on April 28
Visakhapatnam: Following the NDA parties' victory in the no-confidence motion against GVMC mayor G Hari Venkata Kumari on April 19, the Andhra Pradesh state election commission, on Tuesday, issued orders to conduct the election for the mayor post on April 28. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now Visakhapatnam district collector and GVMC in-charge commissioner Dr MN Harendhira Prasad said that a notice will be issued by April 24, inviting the elected and ex-officio members of the GVMC to attend a special meeting convened for the purpose of electing the new mayor. Meanwhile, in an official order issued on Tuesday, Andhra Pradesh govt formally approved the no-confidence motion passed by the NDA against mayor and removed her from office with immediate effect. According to the order, the district collector convened a meeting regarding the no-confidence motion against the GVMC mayor on April 19. "Upon perusal of the minutes of the meeting, it was found that 74 out of 111 members with voting rights participated. All 74 members voted in favour of the motion, with none opposing it. As the motion secured the support of 74 members, satisfying the required two-thirds majority as stipulated under the Act, it is hereby declared as passed, the order read. "Therefore, in exercise of the powers conferred under Section 91-A(6) of the Andhra Pradesh Municipal Corporations Act, 1955, AP govt hereby removes G Hari Venkata Kumari from the office of mayor with immediate effect," the order continued.
