After the Election Commission of India (ECI) decided to go in for a special, intense revision of the electoral roll in Bihar, Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Derek O Brien did a stinging attack, asking what the objective is behind the same, especially now. Criticising the revision, O Brien told a press conference on Saturday that the move has a political tinge, as the ECI is apparently under pressure from the BJP.
He said the TMC respects the Election Commission as a constitutional body, the most, but should not be a regional office of the BJP. Why is this exercise initiated now? The evidence that this is doing is in black and white since the internal survey conducted by the BJP in Bengal indicates that they will only win 46 to 49 seats in the assembly elections.
The TMC chief also added that the fact that the ECI was introducing new rules of voter verification had the potential for mass disenfranchisement. According to the regulations of the special revision exercise, in order to fulfil the documentary evidence requirement, the voters are required to submit documentary evidence of different levels depending on the year they were born.
Applicants who were born prior to July of 1987 are required to provide evidence of birth that is in the form of date, time, and place of birth. Individuals born since July 1987 up to December 2004 have to carry such evidence on behalf of themselves and one of their parents. Voters born before December 2004 require the presentation of documents of both parents, besides their own. Non-compliance risks within a month may result in the dropping of names from the voter list.
O Brien accused that this procedure was to resurrect the National Register of Citizens (NRC) by the back door. Comparing it rather controversially, he said, “In 1935, under Nazis, people were required to carry an ancestor pass. Is this a new avatar of that where the Indian citizens are asked to present either a document to prove their identity?”
He ended by saying that the INDIA bloc would sensitise the issue in and out of the Parliament.
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