‘Will lead to not only disenfranchisement…’: Owaisi casts doubt on electoral roll revision in Bihar

Hyderabad: On his letter to ECI opposing the “Special Intensive Revision” of electoral rolls in Bihar, AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi, says “Our request to the Election Commission of India is that we want a detailed explanation on the concerns which we have highlighted in the written representation which we have sent to the Election Commissioners. Number one is that the voter list on which the 2024 Parliament election took place, did it have foreign illegal migrants? Secondly, the Special Summary Revision was undertaken for Bihar from 29th October 2024 to 6th January 2025. The third point which we have brought to the notice of the Election Commission is that last time when the SIR (Special Intensive Revision) was done, Bihar had one year to go for the Parliament elections and two years to go for the Assembly elections. Now you are saying that within one month, the whole SIR should be completed. You have not even given training to the BLOs. How is it possible? There are more than 7.90 crore voters in Bihar, and the 5th point is that the BLOs have been given unbridled powers... This will lead to not only disenfranchisement of Indians but also loss of livelihood. How is it possible? How are you giving these powers to BLOs and the sixth point that electors born before 01/07/1987 must show a document to establish the date of birth. Electors born between 01/07/1987 and 02/12/2024 have to provide their birth certificate or one of their parents... and then you are saying give a list of 11 documents. How did you arrive at these dates? What is the allegation of illegal migrants? Were there illegal migrants in 2024 voter list? We have to question that also... Please remember that for nearly two months in a year, many regions in Bihar's Seemanchal are cut off. Thousands of acres of land are cut off because of floods. People lose their homes, and many hospitals are closed. What is the percentage of people having all these documents? If you have made 1987 the cutoff date, 38 years have passed, and what is the database that ECI has? We have given in a formal representation to the ECI. We hope and expect that the ECI will address all these concerns and give us a reply. Why was this not discussed in all-party meeting? This should have been discussed in all-party meeting.”