Rahul Gandhi to lead Opposition protest over controversial voter list revision in Bihar today: 10 key points

The opposition Mahagathbandhan or Grand Alliance in Bihar will hold a protest rally today led by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi against the Election Commission of India’s (ECI) special intensive revision (SIR) exercise ahead of the Bihar election.

The EC’s exercise has triggered a political storm, with the opposition Congress dubbing it ‘a rigging attempt’ orchestrated by the poll panel under instructions from the ruling regime.

At least half a dozen petitions by political parties, individuals and civil society groups have been filed in the Supreme Court against what they call a ‘blatantly unconstitutional’ exercise.

Here are 10 points about the protest in poll-bound Bihar:

1 – Congress leader Rahul Gandhi will lead the ‘chakka jam’ march from the income tax roundabout to the poll panel’s office near the assembly building in Patna at 10 am.

2- Gandhi may also visit the family of businessman Gopal Khemka, who was shot dead outside his house near Patna’s Gandhi Maidan on July 4.

2 – The assembly election in Bihar is scheduled to be held later this year.

3 – The Supreme Court willtakeup petitions against the exervice on July 10. With claims of potential ‘disenfranchisement’ and the risk of creating ‘second-class citizens,’ the Election Commission‘s move has now snowballed into a major flashpoint ahead of the Bihar elections and chances of it being replicated in other states.

4 – The Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and Left parties will also participate in the statewide protest. They have alleged the ECI’s voter list revision process is biased and anti-people. The RJD has also filed a petition against the EC exercise.

5 – All electors must submit an enumeration form, and those registered after 2003 have to additionally provide documentation establishing their citizenship, as per the guidelines and schedule specified by the Commission.

6- The Election Commission said that the intensified revision’s objective is to ensure that the names of all eligible citizens are included in the electoral roll so as to enable them to exercise their franchise, that no ineligible voter is included in the electoral roll, and that complete transparency is introduced in the process of adding or deleting electors in the electoral roll.

7- “Various reasons such as rapid urbanisation,frequent migration, young citizens becoming eligible to vote, non-reporting of deaths and inclusion of the names of foreign illegal immigrants have necessitated the conduct of an intensive revision so as to ensure integrity and preparation of error-free electoral rolls,” the poll panel said.

8- The last intensive revision for Bihar was conducted by the Commission in year 2003.

9 – Jagdeep Chhokar, co-founder of the election watchdog, the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), one of the petitioners in SC against SIR, explains why the process is illegal and impractical.

“We want it to be stopped completely, and if not now, at least order a stay and discuss it before taking it up again. If it is not stopped now, it will disrupt the electoral process and disenfranchise people. We know that if someone is not proven to be a citizen, he can also be deported. This is very dangerous,” he said.

10- BJP leader and MP Ravi Shankar Prasad slammed the RJD-Congress alliance for politicising the electoral roll revision process. He said the Opposition’s call for the statewide ‘chakka jam’ will only heighten tension at a time when the state needs peace.

“It is their right. Action is being taken, the police are doing their job. I will only say that if they organise such programmes for their politics, it also increases tension. Bihar needs peace right now. In the upcoming elections, everything will become clear as day,” Prasad was quoted as saying by NDTV.