No eligible voter will be excluded, says minister

The roll update has its importance like weeding out dead voters

- Anirban Guha Roy

“The government is totally committed to ensuring that no eligible voter gets excluded from the voters’ list in the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR). The roll update _ has its own importance like weeding out dead voters, those having names in more than one place and also those having shifted from their previous addresses,” the minister said.

He made the statement on a discussion on SIR in assembly in the pre-lunch session, which saw participation of Opposition leader Tejashwi Prasad Yadav, Congress legislature party leader Shakeel Ahmad Khan, CPI-ML(liberation) MLA Mah-boob Alam and HAM(S) members.

Chaudhary insisted that the Opposition leader had made it clear that his party was not opposed to SIR and underlined how it was the intent of the government too to ensure all eligible and genuine voters got enlisted in the voters’ list being updated under SIR. Chaudhary also highlighted that the Election Commission of India (ECI) had made it clear that anybody whose names got missed from the draft rolls could file claims/ objections in the specified period. “At least 98 per cent of electors have been covered under SIR so far as per ECI,” said the minister.