EC: 'List of dead voters shared with political parties', election Commission's statement after supreme Court's direction
EC: The supreme court has directed the election commission to make public the information of 65 lakh voters removed in Bihar. Meanwhile, the election commission said that the list of dead and voters having more than one voter ID card is already being given to political parties. The Commission also informed that the Aadhaar number is being sought in the special intensive revision form.
The election commission said on thursday that it is sharing the list of dead voters and those who have more than one voter ID card with political parties. The Commission also informed that the form being used for Special Intensive Revision (SIR) already asks for an Aadhaar number as proof of identity. This statement of the election commission came after the supreme court directed it to make public the information of 65 lakh names removed from the voter list of Bihar.
The Commission said that the list of dead voters and those who have permanently shifted is being given to political parties since July 20. The supreme court has directed the election commission to make public the information of 65 lakh names removed from the voter list under the special intensive revision going on in Bihar and the reasons for not including them, so that transparency can be increased.
Justifying the process of special intensive revision in bihar, the election commission today told the supreme court that it is working in an 'environment of intense political confrontation', where hardly any of its decisions remain without controversy. A bench of Justice Suryakant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi admitted that the election commission has the right to conduct SIR, but this process should be done rationally and fairly.
Senior advocate Rakesh Dwivedi, appearing for the election commission, said the election commission is currently working in such an environment where almost everything it says is challenged. Still, it has the right to make decisions like conducting a special intensive revision. He said that the commission is caught in the tussle between political parties, where parties call EVMs faulty when they lose elections and correct when they win. Dwivedi said, I am not saying that the election commission can do whatever it wants. But the commission has enough powers under Article 324 of the Constitution and the Representation of the people Act.
He said that the election commission focuses on legal aspects rather than political perception. Political parties have their own needs to win elections, but our responsibility is towards the law. Dwivedi also said, See what we are saying and how it was presented in the wrong way. Some lawyers tried to create drama by presenting some persons without an affidavit, who were declared dead, but were alive. We do not know who they were or where they came from.
The election Commission's lawyer said that 7.24 crore forms have been submitted, out of which five crore names have been checked. If the court hears the petitions challenging the decision to start SIR on june 24 after 15 days, the commission can give better figures. The bench asked the election commission why the names of the deleted voters and the reasons for deletion were not made public. The court said that doing so would increase transparency and strengthen the confidence of voters, especially when many things are being said about this issue.
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