ECI needs to course correct on Bihar SIR

Karan Thapar

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The special intensive revision (SIR) of the Bihar electoral roll, ordered by the Election Commission on June 24, has raised serious concerns and disturbing questions. Will possibly crores be disenfranchised as a result? Will the poor and the marginalised be the worst to suffer? And was it necessary to carry it out at this time?

Whilst I know the Representation of People Act authorises the Commission to hold a special revision in any manner it thinks fit and at any time, nonetheless, was it proper that this should be held just four months before assembly elections are due in Bihar? In 2003, the special intensive revision was held two years before the assembly elections, not four months.

Second, the SIR has to be completed in just one month (June 25-July 25). Given that it affects nearly eight crore voters, can it really be done in 30 days?

These are, of course, questions of timing but they also draw dark clouds over the process that will follow. They are reasons for reconsidering, not pressing ahead.

Let's now come to the details. People born before July 1987 are required to provide proof of birth and birth place. But a lot of people don’t have birth certificates. Many were born at home.