Concern grows over voter verification drive in India

DW (English)

In the Indian state of Bihar, a drive by election officials to verify the identity of 80-million voters is sparking growing anger and frustration. Critics are warning the overhaul could be used to strike off voters who don't support the ruling party.

Transcript

00:00For weeks now, Abhay Paswan has been spending his days on the road, looking for voters.

00:07He and his wife Hira have less than a month to verify each of the 991 voters in their sub-district.

00:14Armed with the list from the election commission, they're going door to door,

00:18helping residents fill out their verification forms.

00:21We're taking these forms to the voters, meeting them personally

00:26and explaining the verification drive to each of them.

00:29We reassure people that their names will not be struck off the voter lists.

00:33We tell them if you're present here and we've collected your form in person, we'll be sure to submit it.

00:40100,000 other officers like Paswan are carrying out this intensive verification drive across the state of Bihar.

00:47The election commission says it will help confirm who is a legitimate citizen and voter.

00:53They hope to delete people who have died, moved away, registered more than once

00:58or are foreign nationals.

01:01But legitimate voters are also worried about being left behind.

01:05Rekha Devi is keeping her documents ready.

01:08She has been voting here for decades, but her name is missing from the voter verification list.

01:13Her son is of voting age too, but hasn't been registered.

01:17And Rekha's husband's name is missing too.

01:21He's one of 10 million migrant workers from the state.

01:24So he's not there to help.

01:26I'm very worried about our names being struck off the voter list.

01:31We're just laborers.

01:32What will we do?

01:33If our names are deleted, then maybe we'll lose our ration cards or other state benefits.

01:37How will we fix it?

01:40The names of many of her neighbors are missing too.

01:43They worry they can fall through the cracks.

01:45This is a massive exercise.

01:4780 million voters need to be verified, especially the 30 million who have been added to the role

01:53since the last revision two decades ago.

01:55And Bihar may well turn out to be a test case, as the election commission has said

01:59they would like to implement a similar revision across the country.

02:04This is why social worker Ajeev Kumar has helped challenge the voter role revision in the Supreme Court.

02:09Bihar is one of India's poorest, least literate states.

02:13Kumar worries that in this context, rushing the verification process will hurt voters

02:18who do not have the required documents.

02:213% of people have passports.

02:2415% have school graduation certificates.

02:27Only 35% have land ownership records and 40% of women haven't been to school.

02:33Where are they supposed to get documents from?

02:36Many voters in this district say the verification has been quick and easy for them.

02:41But Kumar says the process is not uniform across the state

02:44and that the speed could be a sign of neglect, not efficiency.

02:49In a neighboring village, minority Muslim voters say they feel targeted by the revision.

02:55The documents they do have are not being accepted as proof of residence.

02:59And those documents that are accepted are impossible to source.

03:04They say the birth certificate is the most important.

03:08They didn't even issue birth certificates back then.

03:10Where do we get it from?

03:12This is nonsense.

03:14They are rejecting the ID documents they normally accept.

03:17This is wrong.

03:19It's not the election commission's job to ask if we are citizens here.

03:23People are confused and I'm sure many names are going to be struck off the voter list.

03:29All hopes here now lie with the Supreme Court.

03:32It can extend the revision to give people more time and also make more documents acceptable.

03:38That may help allay fears here of widespread disenfranchisement ahead of October's poll.

03:44That may help us on our website.

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