In Bihar, a door to door drive by booth level officers to re-verify voters. According to the Election Commission of India, Special Intensive Revision (SIR) is meant to clean the rolls before upcoming elections. People are being asked to prove their citizenship, and without which they’ll not be allowed to vote. The officials are demanding one or more from 11 valid documents, including caste certificates, land records, and even passports, which most rural residents don’t have. Since matric certificates are being used to verify age, it has affected women the most, as many rely on their father’s or husband’s ID.
Many believe this is part of identifying so-called “ghost households,” a term now used for suspected illegal immigrants, Bangladeshis, Nepalis, and even locals who are suddenly under suspicion.
One of the residents says, “There’s growing suspicion, today they’ll question someone else, tomorrow it could be me.” The process is confusing and burdensome. Of nearly 1000 forms submitted, only about 100 had one of the 11 required documents.
After an outcry, the Election Commission has allowed people to submit their enrollment forms without any documents--for now.
Yet, people kept submitting Aadhaar cards, ration cards and voter ID cards, which are not acceptable proof! They fear finding out the worst--that they cannot vote--only on voting day.
Many also believe this is a rushed attempt to build a “digital caste” system. Opposition parties like the RJD, Congress, and Trinamool Congress are protesting the drive, saying it will create two classes of citizenship: those with the right to vote, and those without.
00:00In the flood-prone villages of Bihar, the monsoon brings water.
00:04This year, it has brought a lot of paperwork.
00:30Schools are shut.
00:32Teachers now acting as Booth-level officers are knocking on the doors.
00:36And everyone is being asked one question.
00:39Can you prove you belong?
00:41This is Bihar's Special Intensive Revision, or SIR, of the voter list.
00:47A door-to-door drive by Booth-level officers to re-verify every voter.
00:52The Election Commission says it is meant to clean the rolls before the upcoming elections.
00:57In this category, the first year of 187, the first year of 187,
01:03is to give only one proof.
01:06After 187, in 2004, they have to give only one mother and mother.
01:15After 4, they have to give only one mother and mother.
01:21This initiative has triggered both civic participation
01:25and a quiet panic in many parts of Bihar.
01:38The process is unclear.
01:40People are asked to submit 11 specific documents.
01:44The
02:11But most only have Aadhaar, voter IDs or ration cards, none of which are considered valid enough.
02:41There's confusion, there's contradiction. First, forms were rejected for missing documents. Then, the BLOs were told to accept anything just to calm the panic.
03:11But what is driving this urgency? Some say it's about stopping Guzpaitiyas, a word being thrown around for illegal immigrants.
03:33But when you ask people if they've seen one, the answers are vague and even comical.
03:38There's no one here. If you live in a village, then you can live in a town.
03:43But you can't live in a village in Guzpaitiyas.
03:46Because it's the same thing that the people who live in the village are, they get to know from the people.
03:55Have you ever seen anyone or seen anyone here?
03:58We haven't seen anyone in the village.
04:00Much of this fear is second-hand, fueled by a recent news headline that Aadhaar cards in Simanchal region of Bihar were far in excess of the population.
04:09Many fear that this exercise is being done in haste.
04:30The government is doing so quickly.
04:32What will it upload?
04:35Where will it go?
04:36Where will it go?
04:37Where will it go?
04:38What do you know?
04:39For many women, proving identity means tracing it through a man, often the father, via land documents.
04:45What do the people take care of the physicians?
04:47How do they take care of?
04:49The people take care of theónies and the ones you take care of is the without them to come.
04:54If my parents or our parents are coming, then if they're not going to get my job or the parents, then if, they'll get your parents at home, they'll get our father's authority.
05:01We will get a vote on that, they'll get your authority on their own.
05:03Nine opposition parties, including Rashtriya Janata Dal, Congress and the Trinmul Congress,
05:10have challenged the SIR in the Supreme Court.
05:13On July 11th, the court questioned the Election Commission.
05:16Why now, just before the election?
05:19Isn't citizenship the Home Ministry's job?
05:22A hearing is scheduled for July 28th.
05:24Petitioners before the court contended that SIR, as designed,
05:28threatened to disenfranchise large sections of the population,
05:32especially the poor, marginalised and recent enrolings.
05:36Many will be left out of the voter list.
05:38I think the government is doing good, but I need time for this.
05:42In this process, the government will be successful.
05:45What do you know, the government will be successful?
05:46What do you know, the government will be successful?
05:47There is no hope here.
05:49There is no hope.
05:52The Hindu is a village.
05:54The name of the government will be accepted.
05:59The speed and the opacity of the process has drawn major political fire, with many calling
06:15it NRC plus demonetization.
06:18As of July 23, the Election Commission has discovered that 18 lakh of the registered
06:23voters have passed away, 26 lakh electors have shifted to another constituency, and
06:297 lakh are duplicate voters.
06:31While the Commission insists that SIR is not a citizenship test, the impacts on the ground
06:36feel similar.
06:38And the question remains, if your name disappears from the voter list, do you disappear too?
