A special revision of Bihar's electoral rolls has triggered a political storm, with concerns over voter deletion, citizenship proof, and impact on the poor and marginalised
The Special Intensive Revision is a focused voter list update exercise conducted by the Election Commission of India to ensure electoral rolls are accurate ahead of upcoming elections
The Congress leader noted that the Election Commission earlier refused a meeting, however, later only allowed two leaders from a party, due to which some leaders could not even meet the officials
Leaders from 11 parties, including Congress, RJD, CPI(M), CPI, CPI(ML), NCP-SP, and Samajwadi Party, raised objections to special scrutiny of the voters' list before CEC Gyanesh Kumar
The objective of Special Intensive Revision (SIR) is to ensure that no eligible voter is left out, and at the same time, no ineligible voter is included in the electoral roll
It has come to the notice of the Commission that of the over 2,800 RUPPs currently registered with ECI, many RUPPs have failed to fulfil the essential conditions required to continue as an RUPP
In a statement, the Congress' empowered action group of leaders and experts (EAGLE), said this revision of electoral rolls by the EC is a "cure worse than the disease"
As part of the intensive review, poll officials will carry out house-to-house verification to ensure an error-free voters' list, starting immediately with Bihar
The Election Commission of India said that electors will also receive notifications via SMS at each stage, keeping them informed about the status of their EPICs
Bihar assembly elections are due later this year and it will be the first state where 100 per cent webcasting will be implemented
Gandhi had on Saturday hit back at the Election Commission after sources in the poll panel rejected allegation of rigging in the 2024 Maharashtra Assembly polls
Election Commission described Rahul Gandhi's allegations relating to Maharashtra polls as an "affront to the rule of law"
Underscoring that match-fixed elections are a poison for any democracy, Gandhi wrote that the side that cheats may win the game, but it damages institutions and destroys public faith
The Election Commission of India has introduced ECINET, a digital app that enables real-time voter turnout reporting, ensuring quick updates at the constituency level on polling days across India
The last time a special summary revision took place for a bypoll was in 2006 in Tamil Nadu
Senior IAS officers Anbalagan P and Sanjay Kumar Agarwal have been appointed as joint secretaries in the Department of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare
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Initial probe found that the minister's wife, Koel Majumdar, holds two voter ID cards with different EPIC numbers, one registered in Balurghat and another in Jalpaiguri.
Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Neha Mittal also granted relief to TMC leaders Santanu Sen, Dola Sen, Nadimul Haque, Vivek Gupta, Arpita Ghosh, Abir Ranjan Biswas and Sudip Raha
Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar along with Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi spoke with the BSP leadership at the Nirvachan Sadan