Chief Minister M K Stalin shot off seven questions that cast doubts over the credibility of the ECI vis-à-vis its Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in Bihar.
Chennai:Wondering as to why the Election Commission of India (ECI) could not be more transparent and voter friendly if its true aim was to conduct fair elections, Chief Minister M K Stalin shot off seven questions that cast doubts over the credibility of the ECI vis-à-vis its Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in Bihar.
With the answers of the Chief Election Commissioner, Gynesh Kumar, to media persons at his press conference raising more questions than providing answers and in the backdrop of the opposition INDIA bloc mulling his impeachment, Stalin’s direct questions on Monday added an impetus to the opposition's tirade on the issue.
One of the direct questions was how could there be so many deletions of eligible voters when a house-to-house enumeration was undertaken by the ECI before finalizing the rolls.
Since the enrolment of new voters was abnormally low, the Chief Minister wanted to know if those young voters in that State were enumerated at all and asked: Has any database been compiled to show how many youngsters who turned 18 on the qualifying date were included?
He asked if the ECI was going to address the issue relating to the removal of a large number of voters from the rolls in the coming Assembly elections in Bihar because the procedure for enquiry and the two appeals along with their timelines, as contemplated under the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960, had the potential to exclude a huge number of voters.
Since the elections to the Tamil Nadu Assembly were due in 2026 and a fear of a repeat of Bihar’s SIR loomed over the horizon, Stalin asked a question pertaining to it: ‘Will the ECI take these practical difficulties into account while conducting SIR in other States?
He also wanted to know as to what prevented the ECI from enlisting Aadhaar as one of the acceptable documents to prove a voter’s claim in the questionnaire put out on his X page with the hashtag #VoteTheft.
Another question to the ECI was: ‘On 17/07/2025, we requested the ECI to delete the names of deceased voters from the rolls by undertaking the exercise contemplated in its 01/05/2025 notification. When will this be done?
