Taking part in the SIR debate, Akhilesh Yadav said he agrees with the Congress suggestion that Election Commission appointments should be more transparent and that the country should return to paper ballots.
NCP (SP) MP Supriya Sule speaks during debate on election reforms in Lok Sabha (Courtesy: Sansad TV)
The controversy over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls across states and union territories took centre stage in Parliament on Tuesday, with the issue taken up for a discussion in the Lok Sabha. The lower house is debating SIR as well as wider electoral reforms following the Opposition’s move to press for a debate on the matter. Here are the updates:
Speaking during the debate, Trinamool Congress MP Kalyan Banerjee accused the BJP of being a ‘Bengali hater’. The BJP is trying to evict every Bengali out of the country, Banerjee alleged.
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Taking part in the debate, JD(U) MP Rajiv Ranjan Singh alleged, “Instead of focusing on discussing electoral system reforms, Opposition MPs are more focused on how to dismantle the current system of elections.”
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DMK MP Dayanidhi Maran, on his part, asked, “The ECI is correcting electoral lists, but who will correct the Election Commission… It has lost its objectivity.”
NCP (SP) MP Supriya Sule rued that the ECI was no longer independent. “The Election Commission should have been an independent authority, but it looks like they are part of the government. This is not healthy for any democracy in the world. It’s shameful,” she claimed.
Samajwadi Party leader and former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav has backed the Congress party’s suggestion to return to ballot papers. Taking part in the SIR debate, Akhilesh said he agrees with the Congress suggestion that Election Commission appointments should be more transparent and that the country should return to paper ballots. He said that many complaints were made during the UP bypolls and Lok Sabha elections regarding fraud being committed, but no action was taken by the Election Commission. “The 2027 election is approaching, and I am saying this on the floor of the House, if an unbiased election is conducted, then the BJP won’t win any seats,” Akhilesh said.
Earlier, BJP MP Sanjay Jaiswal, who spoke after Manish Tewari, said vote chori happened in the country when the Election Commission had postponed the remaining phases of the 1991 Lok Sabha elections by three weeks following the assassination of then PM Rajiv Gandhi in order to garner sympathy votes.
Initiating the debate on behalf of the Opposition, Congress MP Manish Tewari pointed out that the biggest election reform in the country was carried out by former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi, whose government reduced the voting age from 21 to 18.
Tewari said it is unfortunate that many members of the House and the people of the country are raising questions on the neutrality of the Election Commission of India (ECI). He further said that the first electoral reform that should be carried out now should be related to the 2023 law on the selection of ECI members. The law envisages that members of the ECI be selected by a panel comprising the Prime Minister, the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, and a Cabinet minister nominated by the Prime Minister.
“My recommendation is that two more names should be added: LoP, Rajya Sabha, and the Chief Justice of India. Then there will be two people from the government, two from the Opposition and one CJI. This committee will ensure fairness, and this will also help remove persistent doubts from the minds of the people,” the former Union minister said.
The Congress MP further said that while the SIR process is underway in various states, “the Election Commission of India has no legal justification” to conduct the exercise.
The first week of the Winter Session of Parliament was largely marred by the Opposition’s protests demanding a debate on SIR.
The agreement on holding a debate came following intense negotiations between the government and the Opposition. An all-party meeting was held last week, where a decision was taken to discuss the issue that has triggered controversy across the country, especially in poll-bound West Bengal and Tamil Nadu, ruled by opposition parties.
The Opposition has alleged that the SIR, first conducted in Bihar and then announced for 12 states and UTs, is leading to large-scale disenfranchisement of marginalised communities.
Opposition leaders, led by Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, and MPs Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, held demonstrations inside and outside Parliament last week, demanding the scrapping of SIR. ‘Stop SIR – Stop Vote Chori’, they alleged, holding placards.
Briefing the media ahead of the debate, Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju said, “Today, the discussion on election reforms will begin in the Lok Sabha. In the Rajya Sabha, a special discussion will be held to mark 150 years of Vande Mataram… Members of the Opposition will also speak, and the government will have an opportunity to clarify the false narratives that have been created. The people place their trust in democracy, they participate in the electoral process and cast their votes, so it is important that no one is misled by false narratives. This debate will allow us to present our position clearly.”
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