Owaisi writes to EC against voter roll revision ahead of Bihar polls

Hyderabad: AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi has raised objections to the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral roll in Bihar, ahead of the upcoming assembly elections. In a letter to the Election Commission, Owaisi argued that Bihar’s electoral roll had already been updated through a Special Summary Revision, which addressed issues such as rapid urbanisation, frequent migration, non-reporting of deaths, and the inclusion of names of illegal foreign nationals—now being cited to justify the SIR.

He maintained that the Special Summary Revision, conducted for other states and the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, had adequately covered these concerns.

Recalling the last intensive revision in Bihar conducted in 2003, Owaisi said it took place well before the 2004 Lok Sabha and 2005 Assembly polls, allowing sufficient time for electors to seek legal remedies.

"With this instance, we would like to place our first and foremost objection to the Commission's order directing SIR in Bihar – the SIR will have a deleterious effect on electors across the state due to its proximity to the upcoming assembly elections," he said in the letter dated June 28.

Owaisi further noted that under the current framework, the Electoral Registration Officer (ERO) and Additional Electoral Registration Officer (AERO) are empowered to question the eligibility of applicants not just for incomplete documentation but for other unspecified reasons as well.

In fact, the ERO/AERO can even refer cases of suspected foreign nationals to the competent authority under the Citizenship Act, 1955. This wide and unsupervised power of ERO/AERO can be misused to not only cause widespread disenfranchisement but can even lead to loss of livelihood for the affected electors.

He urged the Commission to clarify the rationale behind the SIR and requested an in-person hearing for AIMIM and other opposition parties to present their concerns.

Owaisi earlier accused the EC of implementing NRC in Bihar "through the backdoor".

"To be enrolled in the voter roll, every citizen will now have to show documents not only proving when and where they were born but also when and where their parents were born," he had said in a post on X.

Even the best estimates state that only three-fourths of births are registered, and most government documents are riddled with errors, he said.

Highlighting the situation of residents in the flood-prone Seemanchal region, he criticised the move as a "cruel joke" given that many of the poor lack access to their parents' documents.

"The result of this exercise will be that a large number of Bihar's poor will be removed from the electoral roll," he claimed.

(inputs from PTI)