Don’t conduct voter roll drive close to polls: TDP

{ AS S.1.R. CONTINUES IN BIHAR

- Vrinda Tulsian

The Telugu Desam Party (TDP), a key ally of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), on Tuesday urged the Election Commission of India (ECI) to communicate explicitly that the special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls is not related to citizenship verification and that the exercise is not held in Andhra Pradesh within six months of any major polls.

Though the TDP did not mention the ongoing SIR in Bihar in its communication to the poll body, the suggestions come amid a raging political uproar over the EC's exercise in the poll-bound state, with various Opposition parties and some NGOs moving the Supreme Court raising question about its implementation close to the assembly polls.

“The purpose of SIR must be clearly defined and limited to electoral roll correction and inclusion. It should be explicitly communicated that the exercise is not related to citizenship verification, and any field instructions must reflect this distinction,” TDP said ina letter to EC.