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EC Takes Digs at Rahul Gandhi, Claims Opposition Parties Misleading People on Bihar SIR
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New Delhi: Facing brickbats for its allegedly opaque and partisan functioning, the Election Commission (EC) on Sunday (August 17) attacked “a few political parties” for “creating confusion among voters” regarding the ongoing “special intensive revision” (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar.
In his briefing to the press at the National Media Centre in New Delhi, Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar said, “It is a matter of great concern that a few political parties have made allegations of vote chori [vote theft], despite the fact that their own booth-level agents have received and formally attested the [corrected] electoral rolls [in the first stage of SIR]. This only means that either the voices of district leaders of political parties are not being properly conveyed to their national leaders, or there is a deliberate attempt to create confusion among voters.”
Taking a dig at Rahul Gandhi’s presentation on alleged “vote chori” in the Bangalore Central Lok Sabha seat, he said, “If someone thinks that he can use a PPT presentation to falsify data and misinterpret facts, then that act is against both the law and constitution.”
He added that the EC stands with every voter “like a rock” and gave an assurance that no eligible voter will be deleted without a reason.
The EC’s press conference came on the heels of the Supreme Court’s interim order in which it asked the poll body to take into account Aadhaar as one of the documents to verify a person’s voting eligibility.
The EC had earlier announced that the SIR will verify voters only on the basis of a list of 11 documents that did not contain usual identity proofs like Aadhaar, elector photo ID cards (EPICs), ration cards or PAN cards.
It later went on to challenge the Supreme Court’s recommendation to use Aadhaar and EPICs in the SIR. However, the court’s interim order defied the EC’s insistence on not using Aadhaar.
Kumar, however, said on Sunday that following the Supreme Court order, the EC will use Aadhaar as proof of........© The Wire
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