In a district of the northern Hasse Bihar state of India, Nalanda’s daily wage laborer Sita Devi has been a difficult time to collect the paperwork required to include Sita Devi in the election role.
The Election Commission of India (ECI) gave voters in Bihar to prove the eligibility to vote before the July 25 deadline.
Devi told DW, “I submitted my application on time, but when I followed, I was told that my details were incomplete.” “Now, I am running to post from the pillar to get my voter ID before the deadline.”
Registration revives trigger dysenfrangement triggers fear
About 200 kilometers (124 mi), Ram Kishan, a farmer from Gopalganj district of Bihar, has spent weeks in running the betty government buildings and local election office to submit his application on time.
“Officers keep asking for more documents. I have all the thesis, but still, my name is not added to the voter list,” Kishan told DW. “Without this, I am afraid that I will not be able to vote in the upcoming elections.”
The ECI announced amendment of the electoral rolls in June before the upcoming elections for November, including a record of about 80 million register voters.
Why is Bihar’s election role being rebuilt?
The ECI stated that “intensive amend” was required to remove the names of dead persons, which have permanently moved and mimic the entries – as well as avoid “including the names of illegal illegal migrants”.
Members of the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi have long claimed that a large number of unspecified Muslim migrants from neighboring Bangladesh have entered India’s election role.
Bihar is one of the largest states in India, which is a major election battlefield. The result of the November assembly elections can affect the balance of power in the Lok Sabha (the lower house of the Parliament of India), where voter power and coalition mathematics are important.
‘Voters are unlikely to request documents’
Those who were registered in 2003, the last time the voter list was investigated in Bihar, they can present a copy of their registration.
But everyone – according to ECI estimates, about 30 million people – need to provide documents to establish eligibility with evidence of citizenship. The Election Commission has specified 11 documents for this purpose.
A huge self of the rural population of Bihar lacks the required documents, and it has proved difficult to get options such as domicile or caste certificate.
Challenging Election Commission in India’s top court
Bihar’s main opposition party, Rashtriya Janata Dal challenged the ECI in the Supreme Court, along with other parties and critics of Bihar Voter Roll Revision Operation.
“It is used to justify the aggressive and opaque modification of the electoral roll which targets Muslims, Dalits and the poor. [Indian] The migrant community, “Read the court petition.
“They are not random patterns, but … engineers are exclusion.”
India’s apex court allowed the Special Intensive Amendment (SIR) to move forward in Bihar, but expressed concern over its time and fairness, urged the ECI to adopt a more inclusive approach for documentation.
Yogendra Yadav, national convenor of the Civil Campaign collective, Bharat Jodo Abhiyan, said that the burden of evidence has been reversed.
“This is the first discovery example in 22 years, where the voter is to get its name in the list and where the voters have asked the bee to submit documents to prove their citizenship,” Yadav told DW.
“Election officials have to submit new applications and documentary evidence of citizenship to ensure that eligible citizens are registered.”
About 2 million left from the list of Assam citizens
Jagdeep Chhokar of the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) challenged the Sir known for his work on electoral and political reforms.
Choka said that Bihar’s amendment is “arbitrary and unconstitutional” and “reduces millions of voters, especially poor and marginalized risks.”
“If it is no longer stopped, it will disrupt the election process,” Heer said. “If no citizen is proved, it can be deported. It is very dangerous,” he said.
Around 2 million people were excluded from the final citizenship list at the Northern Hasters Indian State of Assam, published in 2019, which effectively provides their political and legal status as Indian citizens.
What has BJP said?
India’s decisions, the BJP emphasized the importance of registration reform of the Election Commission, which was to be implemented nationwide.
“It should be done,” BJP spokesperson Tom Wadakkan told DW.
“This is a regular and legal practice that aims to clean the voter list and weed non-voters. In the upcoming elections, we want Indians not external.”
The ECI stated that the draft electoral rolls would be published on August 1 and voters will have claims and goods till 1 September. The final election role is scheduled to be published on 30 September.
The Supreme Court set its next hearing for July 28.
Edited by: Keith Walker
