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In this episode of News Today, the focus is on the Election Commission's Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar, an exercise the EC admits is the first of its kind in India's history.
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00:00Let me raise big questions that have come from the story.
00:03EC's role revision deadline, is it simply impractical to expect 25th of July
00:07for crores of voters to have forms with documents?
00:11Remember now, forms are being collected without documents.
00:14Is this becoming a citizenship test,
00:16which is really not the responsibility of the Election Commission,
00:20but the Home Ministry?
00:21Is the onus being pushed on voters to prove their citizenship?
00:24And is the right to vote therefore under threat
00:27when the opposition claims vote bandhi, is that fear or realistic?
00:31I'm joined by O.P. Rawat, former Chief Election Commission,
00:34Satyapal Jain, Additional Sinister General of India.
00:37He's also been a BJP MP.
00:38And Shadan Farasad, his Senior Advocate Supreme Court,
00:41he's been appearing in this case in the courts.
00:43Appreciate all of you joining us.
00:45O.P. Rawat, let me get your first reactions.
00:48This entire exercise, is it being done in a hurry
00:51to meet deadlines and thereby the real fear is there
00:55that genuine voters could also get excluded
00:58just because they don't have the necessary documents
01:01being provided to them?
01:06Rajdeep, you are absolutely right
01:09because intensive revision was generally done
01:14when elections were about a year or more away
01:17so that the whole process is completed in three months
01:21and thereafter all those aggrieved by deletion of their names
01:24in the final publication have enough time
01:27to resolve their issues
01:29and get justice for inclusion or exclusion, whatever it is.
01:35This time elections are just about a month away
01:37after the final publication.
01:39So that's why people are having panic
01:42and they are confused what to do
01:45and how to get justice.
01:48That's an interesting point
01:49because Satyapal Jain,
01:51there was a summary revision completed in Bihar
01:53in January of this year
01:54and suddenly overnight on June 24th,
01:57the election commission says,
01:59ahead of Bihar,
01:59we are going in for a special intensive revision.
02:02Here is a former chief election commissioner saying,
02:04this is normally done
02:05a year before an election.
02:07It's properly done.
02:07There seems to be some urgency
02:10to get it done before Bihar.
02:12As a result,
02:13the controversy spiraling forms
02:15are being collected,
02:16as our reporter says,
02:17even without documentation.
02:23See, all the controversies
02:24and all the fears,
02:25apprehensions are totally misplaced,
02:28unfounded
02:28and they are in ignorance of the law
02:31of the registration of the voters.
02:33Let's first understand the procedure.
02:35Under the Representation of People Act 1950,
02:38there is a complete procedure prescribed
02:41as to who can be registered as a voter
02:43and what is the procedure for that.
02:45Under 1950 Act,
02:47there are three, four conditions.
02:48Number one,
02:49you must be a citizen of India.
02:51You should not be less than of 18 years of age.
02:54You should be ordinary resident of the place
02:56where you want to be registered as a voter
02:57and you should not be registered as a voter
03:01more than once
03:03either in the same constituency
03:04or in two different constituencies
03:06or even in two different states.
03:08So, these are the basic conditions.
03:10Then, there is a booth-level officer
03:12who coordinates the registration of the votes
03:14and revision of the electoral rolls
03:16under Section 21c.
03:18Booth-level officer is assisted
03:20by the booth-level agents
03:22of all the political parties
03:24and at a particular booth,
03:25there are about 1,000 to 1,200, 1,500 votes
03:28meaning 300, 400 families.
03:30I do not think it is impossible
03:33for all the political parties
03:35and the PLO
03:36not to verify
03:37about 100, 1,200 or 500 families
03:41whether they are genuine or not.
03:43Mr. Jain,
03:44no one is doubting
03:45the EC's constitutional powers
03:47under the Representation of People's Act.
03:48the question arises
03:49that when you go in
03:51for a special intensive revision
03:52of this kind
03:53just ahead of an election,
03:55you are creating unrealistic timelines.
03:58You are creating now
03:59additional bureaucratic layers
04:01by asking for documents
04:02that you didn't ask voters in the past
04:04and thereby creating fears
04:07which could well be justified
04:09on the ground
04:09if many voters are excluded.
04:12So, what was the urgency
04:13suddenly to do it
04:14in the month,
04:15in the monsoon months
04:16when large parts of BR
04:17are flooded out?
04:18It is the initial revision
04:23which is taking place.
04:24The list will come
04:2590% people will be satisfied
04:2795% be.
04:28If you have any objection
04:29under the registration
04:31of electoral rules
04:32there is a procedure.
04:34You can immediately
04:34represent to the black officer.
04:36He will decide
04:37whether you have been
04:37rightly included or excluded.
04:40Then it is the district officer.
04:41Then it is the chief electoral officer.
04:43All steps have been provided.
04:45All remedies have been made available.
04:47only unnecessarily
04:48they are trying to create
04:50who and cry.
04:51Now is not the time
04:52like earlier one
04:53when I contested election
04:5491 for the first time.
04:56Now everything is available
04:57on net.
04:58Everything is available
04:59on net.
04:59All forms are available.
05:01If you can't coordinate...
05:02Just a minute.
05:03If your BLA
05:04agent of a political party
05:06is not able to coordinate
05:07at the booth level
05:08it is the fault of the party
05:09not of the system.
05:11Okay.
05:12Shadan Farasad respond.
05:13According to Satyapal Jain
05:14this is much ado about nothing.
05:16There are enough checks
05:17and balances
05:18within the system
05:19that even if my name
05:20is excluded
05:20I am a genuine voter
05:21I will have the right to vote.
05:24There is a prescribed procedure.
05:26What's the real concern then?
05:27Yes.
05:29The concern is at multiple levels.
05:31The first concern is
05:32that this is
05:33A.
05:33What the election commission
05:34calls a special intensive revision.
05:37This is not just
05:38an intensive revision.
05:39The word special
05:40has been added
05:41before intensive revision.
05:43Election commission itself
05:44admits
05:44that no special intensive revision
05:46has been done
05:47in the history of India
05:48in 75 years
05:49and Bihar is the first state
05:51where it is being done.
05:52What has been done
05:53in the past
05:54is only intensive revision.
05:55Now what's the difference?
05:56What was 2003?
05:58It was only
05:59an intensive revision.
06:00There was no concept
06:01of a special intensive revision
06:04until we heard it
06:06from election commission
06:0620 days back.
06:08That's the first time
06:08they've introduced it.
06:09So I think that's important
06:10that your viewers
06:11have that clarity
06:12that in the past
06:14only what has been carried out
06:15is an intensive revision.
06:17This is a new creation
06:18of the election commission.
06:20That's point number one.
06:21Now why is it problematic?
06:23It's problematic
06:23for the reason
06:24that everybody
06:26irrespective of you
06:27being on an electoral list
06:28have to submit this form.
06:30Correct?
06:31If you don't get the form
06:33and therefore
06:34you are not able to submit it
06:36or for any reason
06:37you are not able to submit it
06:38despite you being
06:39in the 2025 electoral list
06:41you will be
06:42straight away knocked out.
06:43Your name will not
06:44even figure in the draft roll
06:45which is supposed
06:46to come on 1st August.
06:47So just by non-submission
06:49of a form
06:49despite being on electoral list
06:52as of today
06:53you will be knocked out.
06:55The investigation
06:56or whatever the hearing
06:57begins for people
06:58who are on the draft roll.
07:01Therefore fundamentally
07:02even now
07:03if you have 9 crore voters
07:04or 8 crore voters
07:051% is 8 lakh
07:06simple arithmetic tells us.
07:08So if you are not even able
07:09to give form
07:10to 1% people
07:118 lakh people
07:12are knocked out
07:13of the roll straight away.
07:14Now let's assume
07:15you are not able
07:15to give to 2%.
07:16That's 16 lakh.
07:17And if some of them
07:18are not able to submit
07:19and Bihar has
07:20short term migrant labour
07:21of a huge variety
07:22in Punjab
07:23there is going to be
07:24you know
07:24right now
07:25sowing season.
07:26So a lot of people
07:26will be travelling.
07:27A lot of the working class
07:29of Bihar
07:29will be on a short term
07:30migration.
07:31Correct?
07:32Now all of these
07:33Today the election commission
07:34has put out
07:35full page ads
07:36to say that
07:37migrant labour
07:38can go online
07:39on an app.
07:39Is the election commission
07:40living in a real world
07:41or are they living
07:42in some make believe world?
07:44Ads for what?
07:45A person who is working
07:46in Punjab on a field
07:47in a paddy field
07:48is going to look
07:49at the election commission
07:49website and file a form?
07:50Are we kidding ourselves?
07:52I mean what a joke
07:52and this unfortunately
07:54is I mean
07:54you know
07:55I get the same sense
07:57which I got
07:57when it was demonetization.
07:59This is demonetization
08:00by election commission.
08:02You see the same
08:03level of problem
08:04with legality.
08:05You see the same level
08:06of problem
08:06with implementation
08:07on the ground
08:08and you see the same
08:09level of excuses
08:10and justifications
08:11changing every day.
08:12Eight years
08:13that was 2016
08:14we are nine years
08:14down the line
08:15all of us know
08:15it was a failure
08:16a massive failure
08:17the government
08:17doesn't talk about it
08:18and this is exactly
08:19what the situation
08:20with the special
08:20intensive revision is.
08:22Election commission
08:23Mr. Rawat
08:24you want to respond
08:25that this is now
08:26vote bandhi
08:27you have a particular
08:30like what we had
08:31with note bandhi
08:32you've identified
08:33a problem
08:34that there are
08:34maybe voters
08:36who may not have
08:37the citizenship claims
08:38and you want to
08:39remove them
08:39of electoral roll.
08:40What do you do?
08:41You go in for an exercise
08:42that will actually
08:43exclude genuine voters
08:44as Shadan Farasad
08:46says if I'm a daily
08:46wage laborer
08:47working on a field
08:48in Punjab
08:49am I going to sit
08:50and fill a form
08:50online
08:51and make sure
08:52that I'm on the
08:52on the form
08:53in the first place
08:54Mr. Rawat
08:56it's true actually
08:59yeah it's true
09:00actually
09:00election commission
09:01themselves realized
09:02mid course
09:04around 6th of July
09:07they came out
09:08with an advertisement
09:09because they felt
09:10that they won't be able
09:11to get any forms
09:12from nearly 3 crore voters
09:13so they brought out
09:16an advertisement
09:16on Sunday
09:17that there is no need
09:19of proof
09:20or documents
09:21you just submit
09:22the form
09:23so that at least
09:24a semblance
09:26of reason
09:28is there
09:28and nearly
09:297.5 crore voters
09:30are in the draft roll
09:31otherwise
09:32there would have been
09:33only 5 crore voters
09:342003 voter list
09:35so they themselves
09:36made
09:38mid course correction
09:39you know
09:40that's exactly
09:41I'll come to you
09:42Satyapal Jen
09:42in a moment
09:43but I want to show you
09:44what's actually happening
09:44on the ground
09:45once again
09:45we actually did
09:47a hidden camera
09:48on one of the BLOs
09:49to find out
09:50how names
09:51are being deleted
09:51how names
09:52are being included
09:53I want you to listen
09:54in and then
09:54I'll come back
09:55to my guest
09:55listen in
09:56when
09:57it's
09:59what's
09:59what's
10:00what's
10:00the
10:01is
10:02what's
10:03you
10:03I want you to
10:05and
10:05I going to
10:06and
10:07and
10:07then
10:08I'll
10:09see you
10:10see you
10:10I'll see you
10:11again
10:13The system is a system.
10:15Is there any quality of Bangladesh or Nepal?
10:21Bangladesh, Nepal is doing everything.
10:25Nobody is doing it.
10:27Sometimes you're not asking who is doing it.
10:29We're not asking who is doing it.
10:30We know how it is.
10:32We have a name in the bottle.
10:35The documents were asked.
10:37It is complete.
10:40No matter what we have,
10:42Whether it's Bangladesh or Nepal or Bhutan or Bhutan, it's not the case.
10:45When the documents are being given, it's not the case.
10:50Have you been able to identify with Bangladesh as well?
10:53No, there is nothing.
10:55Do you have been able to identify with Bangladesh as well?
10:58No.
10:59No.
11:00No.
11:01No.
11:02No.
11:03No.
11:04No.
11:05No.
11:06No.
11:07No.
11:08No.
11:11No.
11:12No.
11:13No.
11:16No.
11:20No.
11:26You know, what, Sattiapal Jain, this exercise was supposed to weed out the so-called illegal voters.
11:31As Shreya's report has shown on the ground, the PLOs are finding that impossible.
11:35There's a porous border with Nepal and worse still, if I'm a Bengali from Murshidabad or Malda, I speak Bengali, immediately I'm called a Bangladeshi.
11:44This exercise seems to have the wrong, you know, it is simply unable to realize the ground realities.
11:51That's the problem with it. It is again like notbandi. You're finding the wrong medicine to resolve the disease.
11:58Not at all. Notbandi has no similarity to the present situation.
12:05May I put a question to all my friends. Even when the voters are prepared, voter list is prepared, in any parliamentary or assembly elections, to my knowledge, maximum turnout was 70% or 75%.
12:17So, what about the 30%, 20% who do not come to cast their vote? So, it's not that everybody who's interested will be registered and will come to cast the vote.
12:27You get your right to register as a voter from the constitution and the law. And if you fulfill those conditions, you will be enrolled as a voter.
12:33And if the BLO doesn't enroll you as a voter, you have legal remedies, four channels available to you.
12:40So, that will take months. That will take months. I'll be running around. I'll be running around Bihar.
12:45The election was just a couple. No, not months. Not months. No, no, no.
12:52Okay.
12:52No, no, no. Not months. Within a day, three days, you can do it nowadays.
12:56See, if you can't have your BLA who is active. I told in the beginning, voter list is prepared at the booth level.
13:02There is a booth level officer. Then, every party has a booth level agent at that level.
13:07Okay.
13:07Now, if your booth level agent is not active, he doesn't want to go to the voters, he doesn't want to verify, he doesn't want to get things done.
13:13Why do you blame the system and why should you blame the officer and all those people?
13:19All apprehensions are unfounded in ignorance of the law. Let us study law, then there will be no problem at all.
13:26Shadan Farasad, respond to what you word. There are booth level agents of every political party who can do the verification.
13:32This is not such a complicated process.
13:35No, I will only say to Mr. Malik in response to what Mr. Malik is saying is that the law should not exist in absence of the reality.
13:47Absolutely. It should not exist in the absence of the reality on the ground. It cannot. Law cannot be just for our imagination, right?
13:55So, the law does not contemplate this, but be quite apart from the law.
14:00Is it possible, let's say there are problems with two or three crore people, you know, prima facie, nobody submitted a document as of now.
14:07It's quite obvious that BLOs, I am also, I originally belong from Bihar, I have family there.
14:11So, I know that all they are doing is collecting forms. That's what the instructions to the BLOs on the ground is.
14:16Now, if you are just collecting forms, the real problem, one is exclusion at the level of collecting forms, which I pointed out in my initial comments.
14:23Then the problem will begin. Those from whom you have collected forms, now you have to get documentation from them.
14:28And based on the documentation, decide whether they are in or out and give them hearings.
14:32Are you telling me that the election commission has the capacity to give hearing to, say, even one crore people personal hearings?
14:37That's what the law requires.
14:39Yes.
14:39Yes. I mean, is it possible? Is it feasible?
14:41Yes.
14:41Yes.
14:41Before election. Mr. Jain, I'm sorry. I mean, I really think we are living in two parallel words.
14:46I don't think it's at all possible or feasible to give hearings under Rule 21A and Rule 24 of the election commission rule 1960.
14:54And it would determine based on documentation that too in a span of time when elections are set in September or October.
15:01So this is completely...
15:02May I reply?
15:02I tell you, just allow me to complete, sir.
15:04Sir, sir, just allow me to complete.
15:06Let him complete and I'll get you, Satyapaj.
15:08Yeah, complete.
15:08Allow me to complete.
15:10All I'm saying is that this is something election commission itself realized that at the beginning stage,
15:16if they ask people to submit with documents, their numbers will be very low.
15:20So they did away with the documents.
15:21They have told their BLOs, just go collect the forms.
15:24Because otherwise, what would have happened?
15:26By 25th July, the numbers would have been out of 8 crores, 2 or 3 crores would have straight away not even submitted the form.
15:32And numbers of exclusion, prima facie exclusion would have been very high.
15:36So in order to avoid that, they just said, give the forms.
15:39But the real problem will still come thereafter.
15:41They don't have any solution.
15:42That's why I'm saying it's like demonetization.
15:44You keep on addressing problems as they arise.
15:46You have not thought through.
15:47You don't have a response.
15:48And you say, sab changasi.
15:49That's all.
15:50Okay, sab changasi.
15:51Quick final 30 second response, Satyapaj Jain.
15:54There are real practical, these are practical difficulties.
15:57Our story has exposed the practical difficulties.
15:59I will only say, if the election commission can hold election to 100 parliamentary consciences,
16:08thousands and thousands of polling booths, crores of voters in a day,
16:12why can't you finalize the voter list within a week, 10 days, 12 days.
16:17All things are possible nowadays.
16:18The only thing is, follow the law.
16:20And I don't agree with him that you have to, the law doesn't say and all that.
16:24We have to physically verify the process.
16:28You have to give people an opportunity for a fair hearing.
16:31Okay, we'll leave it there.
16:33We'll leave it there.
16:34You have to do it.
16:35Okay, our purpose was only to highlight the issues on the ground.
16:38Law will be followed.
16:39I hope people are waking up to the reality of what is happening on the ground in one of India's
16:43most populous states of Bihar.
16:45Without using words like vote bandhi, all I will say is that the public's right to vote
16:50must not be compromised.
16:52I think no one is all, no example, no parallel.
16:54Okay, okay, we'll leave it there.
16:55All we are saying is questions are being raised that need answers.
17:00And the election commission seems to be changing the goalposts all the time.
17:05Thank you to my panel for joining me.
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