BIHAR MINISTER QUESTIONS ON SIR

BIHAR MINISTER QUESTIONS ON SIR

21-OCT-ENG 4

RAJIV NAYAN AGRAWAL

PATNA------------------------Bihar’s Revenue and Land Reforms Minister Dr. Dilip Jaiswal has strongly criticised the opposition over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls, asking why there should be any objection to cleaning the voter list of deceased persons and those registered at multiple places.

Speaking in Kishanganj, the minister said the process aims at ensuring free, fair and transparent elections. He posed three direct questions to the opposition and the media:

1. Should the names of voters who are no longer alive be removed from the electoral rolls or not?
2. If a voter’s name appears at more than one place, should the extra entries be deleted so that the name remains only at one location?
3. If local residents state that a person listed as a voter has not lived in that locality for 10–20 years (a “traceless” voter), should such a name be removed?

Jaiswal claimed that nearly 99% of the deletions under SIR fall into these three categories. He noted that the opposition has raised no specific objection to these principles. Referring to Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi, he said the Supreme Court had asked for concrete examples of genuine voters facing problems, but no such cases were produced. The minister added that any genuine voter whose name is missing can apply through the prescribed forms of the Election Commission to get it restored.

He further alleged that the opposition’s resistance to SIR stems from political discomfort rather than genuine concern for voters. Drawing a contrast with the past, Jaiswal recalled that during Congress rule, a large percentage of voters used to find red marks against their names at the polling booth without proper process. He asserted that India follows democratic and constitutional methods and will not tolerate attempts to manipulate the system through shortcuts or external influence.

The minister concluded by appealing for political discourse to remain within the framework of the Constitution and democracy, and expressed the hope that wisdom would prevail so that Bihar continues on the path of development.