DC Edit | Give Bihar Voters Fair Chance To Get Back On Rolls
Having dragged its feet over the issue despite voluble objections and displayed a pedantic face amid vilification by political parties about an exercise carried out so close to the polls, the EC has now to play catch up to ensure that the poll rolls are revised in the light of claims that may be made between now and the last date of nominations
The voters who have been unlawfully left out of the Bihar poll rolls have been given another opportunity to get back their right to vote in time. After much toing and froing, the Election Commission, whose credibility was fast eroding in the wake of the disclosure that around 65 lakh voters had been left out, appears to have redeemed itself somewhat in offering to keep admitting eligible voters if they apply, with acceptable documents, before the last date of nominations to the Assembly elections.
The September 1 deadline has gone the way of many such closing dates that have been announced in various segments in the typical Indian fashion of more time being given for some exercise to be completed in the public sphere. But the voters of Bihar left out unfairly can feel relieved as they stand a chance of being able to exercise their franchise, which is their fundamental right provided, of course, that they conform to regulations.
Given the quantum of omission of voters for various reasons, principally because they may not have been in residence at the time of the Special Intensive Revision exercise in largely rural Bihar, the EC will still have to do a rushed job to complete the rolls which, by no stretch of imagination, can be even close to 100 per cent clean. However, the SIR exercise appears to have been flawed, intentionally or otherwise, considering that only 33,000 claims had come in before the September 1 deadline for re-inclusion in the rolls of 65 lakh voters omitted.
Having dragged its feet over the issue despite voluble objections and displayed a pedantic face amid vilification by political parties about an exercise carried out so close to the polls, the EC has now to play catch up to ensure that the poll rolls are revised in the light of claims that may be made between now and the last date of nominations. The EC may never recover all its credibility of conducting the world’s largest polls fairly, but the least it can do is to take corrective measures to redress genuine grievances even in this late hour.
The question of the Aadhaar card being a valid standalone document for re-inclusion in the rolls is still imprecise. The larger question of whether the Aadhaar card is standalone proof of citizenship for a voter to be included in the Bihar voter list prepared after SIR has been answered in the negative by the Supreme Court. This means that many of the 65 lakh voters may not have ready redress.
The time may have come for issues such as the Aadhaar card not being standalone proof of citizenship to be examined for its legality once again by the highest court so that future polls can be conducted in a fairer way with Indian citizens alone eligible to vote. However, the porous Aadhaar card system that sports more holes than Swiss cheese would have to undergo an even greater special intensive revision than the Bihar poll rolls if they are to be credible as proof of identity itself, leave alone citizenship.
The question is whether the EC will have learnt its lesson from the Bihar poll rolls contretemps which did, however, raise a doubt over where a person can expect to vote — the place of origin where he/she may have entered the electoral rolls or place of normal residence that could be anywhere else. But, of those things later, as the conduct of Bihar polls is now in prime focus.
