Bihar SIR: Deliberate attempt being made to spread misinformation, says Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar

The Election Commission of India (ECI) held a press conference to address issues over the Bihar Special Intensive Revision (SIR) and the controversy surrounding it.

Addressing the media, Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar said, “Under the Indian Constitution every Indian citizen who has reached the age of 18 years should vote.”

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“For ECI neither anyone is Opposition nor ruling party. There is no discrimination between parties, all are the same,” the CEC said.

Regarding the involvement of political parties in the SIR, he said, “For the last 2 decades, all political parties have been demanding corrections in the Electoral Rolls. And to address this, the ECI has begun the Special Intensive Revision of Voter Rolls.”

“To remove errors in the Draft List all voters and political parties are contributing,” he added.

Mr. Kumar said that there were several claims and objections given, and there is a period to file these claims and objections. “28370 claims and objections have been given. 15 days are left for filing objections and claims. The ECI asks all political parties, BLAs to submit claims and objections in these 15 days,” he said.

“On the ground level, all BLOs, BLAs and voters are working together, and they are also giving testimonials. But these testimonials are either not reaching the political parties, or a deliberate attempt is being made to spread misinformation,” the CEC said. “When all voters in Bihar are standing with ECI, then no aspersions can be cast on the poll body or voters,” he added.

Regarding the demand for machine-readable voter rolls, Mr. Kumar said, “The Supreme Court in 2019 said that voter privacy can be breached. The ECI is not scared of false accusations. The ECI has been and will stand with voters of all communitues.”