Outspoken and sincere, Sudhakar Singh is the Rashtriya Janata Dal MP from Buxar, Bihar. As former state agriculture minister, he famously accused his own department officials of corruption before resigning over differences with chief minister Nitish Kumar. Now busy preparing for assembly polls, due in October/ November, he took time to speak to Vishwadeepak on the controversial SIR exercise and the general state of affairs in Bihar. Excerpts:

The Election Commission claims the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls is a routine and legitimate process. The Opposition views it as exclusionary and designed to disenfranchise the poor, the Dalit, backward and minority communities. What’s your take?

The claim that this is a routine process is ridiculous. The voter list is normally updated once a year — in January. The process of adding or deleting voters takes place between December and January. This was done in January 2025. So why again, barely six months later? The INDIA bloc has no issues with the revision. What we oppose is the manner in which the SIR was executed, the documents the ECI considered ‘valid’ and the philosophy driving the exercise.

Even when the Constitution was being drafted — between 1946 and 1949 — the Hindu Mahasabha and the RSS were against universal adult franchise. They believed only the educated and landed should have the right to vote. This was unacceptable to the majority of the Constituent Assembly. Every adult Indian, rich or poor, educated or illiterate, was given the right to elect their representatives.

After all these years, the Election Commission is asking people to produce matriculation certificates or documents showing ownership of land. In Bihar, 24 per cent of the population have only studied till high school and over 40 per cent are landless.

What they failed to do in the 1940s is being pursued in 2025. What was settled post-Independence is now being undone.

Will the exercise benefit the ruling coalition in Bihar or will it boomerang on the NDA?

The design........

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