Saurabh Mukherjee
Facing mounting criticism over its handling of electoral roll revisions, the Election Commission of India (ECI) on Sunday (August 17) hit back at opposition parties, accusing them of “creating confusion among voters” with allegations of “vote theft” in Bihar’s ongoing special intensive revision (SIR) of voter rolls.
At a press briefing in New Delhi, Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar dismissed the accusations as politically motivated, pointing out that booth-level agents of the same parties had received and certified the corrected rolls during the first stage of the SIR.
“Either the voices of district leaders are not being properly conveyed to their national leaders, or there is a deliberate attempt to create confusion,” Kumar said.
The poll body has been under fire after it announced that the SIR would initially verify voters only through a list of 11 documents, excluding common IDs such as Aadhaar, voter cards (EPICs), ration cards, and PAN cards.
“The EC is a constitutional institution and that it has neither a “paksh” (in favour) nor a “vipaksh’ (oppose),” Kumar said, stressing that the SIR was aimed at bringing “maximum purity” to the rolls.
The Supreme Court later directed that Aadhaar be accepted for aggrieved voters whose names were deleted from the draft rolls, a ruling the EC had earlier resisted.
On Sunday, Kumar confirmed that Aadhaar would now be used for such cases, while maintaining that the commission would uphold its constitutional duties without favour or bias.
Opposition leaders, however, continued to allege partisan functioning. Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Tejashwi Yadav accused the EC of lying about not receiving formal objections from parties, insisting that booth-level agents had submitted numerous complaints that went unaddressed. Rahul Gandhi too has claimed that over one lakh votes were “stolen” in Bengaluru Central during the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
Responding to such remarks, Kumar said: “If you do not raise a complaint against errors in the electoral rolls within a period of prescribed 45 days, and then go on to use wrong words like “vote chori”, is it not a way to mislead the public? It also shows disrespect towards India’s constitution. What is it, if not this?.”
The CEC said the SIR had already received over 28,000 complaints from individual electors, not political parties, and more than one lakh new enrollment applications.
He appealed to parties to file objections before the September 1 deadline, after which, he warned, “I want to tell everyone that the political parties and aggrieved voters should raise their complaint in another 15 days. Fifteen days still remain. After that no complaint will be entertained.”
Defending the timing and scope of the exercise, Kumar said the SIR was “necessary” to clean up duplications and wrongful entries that parties themselves had been flagging for years. He argued that the process was being carried out transparently in the presence of over ten lakh booth-level agents and 20 lakh representatives of candidates.
“The SIR was done in the presence of over ten lakh booth-level agents and over 20 lakh agents of aspiring candidates. How can ‘vote chori’ happen when the SIR process is being conducted with so much transparency and in the presence of so many people?” he asked.
Kumar further asserted that the commission has the constitutional authority under Article 326 to verify citizenship as part of voter eligibility, countering the Supreme Court’s initial observation that such powers rest with the Union home ministry. He also announced that district-wise websites would soon be created to allow voters to check their status online within 56 hours of the court’s order.
“We are not scared. I want to make it very clear today that the EC will conduct its duties with fearlessness and ensure that no one is discriminated against on the basis of class and faith. The EC stood with Indian voters like a rock, stands with them like a rock and will continue to be with them like a rock,” Kumar said.
At a press briefing in New Delhi, Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar dismissed the accusations as politically motivated, pointing out that booth-level agents of the same parties had received and certified the corrected rolls during the first stage of the SIR.
“Either the voices of district leaders are not being properly conveyed to their national leaders, or there is a deliberate attempt to create confusion,” Kumar said.
The poll body has been under fire after it announced that the SIR would initially verify voters only through a list of 11 documents, excluding common IDs such as Aadhaar, voter cards (EPICs), ration cards, and PAN cards.
“The EC is a constitutional institution and that it has neither a “paksh” (in favour) nor a “vipaksh’ (oppose),” Kumar said, stressing that the SIR was aimed at bringing “maximum purity” to the rolls.
The Supreme Court later directed that Aadhaar be accepted for aggrieved voters whose names were deleted from the draft rolls, a ruling the EC had earlier resisted.
On Sunday, Kumar confirmed that Aadhaar would now be used for such cases, while maintaining that the commission would uphold its constitutional duties without favour or bias.
Opposition leaders, however, continued to allege partisan functioning. Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Tejashwi Yadav accused the EC of lying about not receiving formal objections from parties, insisting that booth-level agents had submitted numerous complaints that went unaddressed. Rahul Gandhi too has claimed that over one lakh votes were “stolen” in Bengaluru Central during the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
Responding to such remarks, Kumar said: “If you do not raise a complaint against errors in the electoral rolls within a period of prescribed 45 days, and then go on to use wrong words like “vote chori”, is it not a way to mislead the public? It also shows disrespect towards India’s constitution. What is it, if not this?.”
The CEC said the SIR had already received over 28,000 complaints from individual electors, not political parties, and more than one lakh new enrollment applications.
He appealed to parties to file objections before the September 1 deadline, after which, he warned, “I want to tell everyone that the political parties and aggrieved voters should raise their complaint in another 15 days. Fifteen days still remain. After that no complaint will be entertained.”
Defending the timing and scope of the exercise, Kumar said the SIR was “necessary” to clean up duplications and wrongful entries that parties themselves had been flagging for years. He argued that the process was being carried out transparently in the presence of over ten lakh booth-level agents and 20 lakh representatives of candidates.
“The SIR was done in the presence of over ten lakh booth-level agents and over 20 lakh agents of aspiring candidates. How can ‘vote chori’ happen when the SIR process is being conducted with so much transparency and in the presence of so many people?” he asked.
Kumar further asserted that the commission has the constitutional authority under Article 326 to verify citizenship as part of voter eligibility, countering the Supreme Court’s initial observation that such powers rest with the Union home ministry. He also announced that district-wise websites would soon be created to allow voters to check their status online within 56 hours of the court’s order.
“We are not scared. I want to make it very clear today that the EC will conduct its duties with fearlessness and ensure that no one is discriminated against on the basis of class and faith. The EC stood with Indian voters like a rock, stands with them like a rock and will continue to be with them like a rock,” Kumar said.
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