Congress leader Rahul Gandhi built a narrative against the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in Bihar, describing it as a way to “steal votes” (‘vote-chori’) by the Bharatiya Janata Party in connivance and collaboration with the Election Commission of India. The party even coined a slogan, “vote chor, Gandhi chhor”, based on this narrative. However, the slogan has been discouraged by other Mahagathbandhan partners in Bihar, who believe it diverts attention from the narrative of “non-performance” against Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.
The party later made a tactical retreat on the issue after the Supreme Court of India found nothing wrong with the SIR in Bihar and gave its green signal with certain suggestions for improvement and convenience to voters. Consequently, the party’s response to the Election Commission of India’s announcement of the SIR in 12 states across the country was muted. Except for a few token statements by leaders like Pawan Khera, the party mostly skirted the issue.
Some other opposition parties, including the Communist Party of India (Marxist) in Kerala, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam in Tamil Nadu, and the Trinamool Congress in West Bengal, have adopted a characteristic confrontationist stance against the SIR being carried out in their respective states.
Their contention is that the ECI has deliberately decided to conduct the revision to help the BJP ahead of the state assembly elections scheduled in these states in the first half of next year.
The ECI is armed with the Bihar SIR experience this time, along with the Supreme Court’s endorsement. It has already implemented several changes and amendments suggested to make the process smoother for voters. By and large, there should not be any major difficulty in carrying out this exercise, which is essential to clean the electoral rolls, as seen in Bihar, where 47 lakh non-existent votes were deleted without any objections.
It is unfair to doubt and attribute partisan motives to every action of the ECI without any supporting evidence. The presence of a BJP government at the Centre does not automatically imply that the ECI is compromised. If the ECI were truly biased, the Trinamool Congress would not have remained in power in West Bengal for three consecutive terms, nor would the BJP have fallen short of a majority by 32 seats in the 2024 General Elections.
In Tamil Nadu, Chief Minister M.K. Stalin has adopted a confrontational stance against the Centre on most issues, and the SIR is no exception. He has called a meeting of Opposition parties to oppose the SIR on November 2, expecting support from the CPI(M), TMC, and Congress, a move that appears uncalled for.
Ideally, those with grievances should approach the Supreme Court. However, the Opposition’s intent seems different, as they neither have any grievance nor any concrete case against the SIR. Their objective appears to be to build a narrative that the SIR is intended to benefit the BJP ahead of elections.
Periodic revision of electoral rolls is a routine and mandatory exercise. It is the ECI’s duty to ensure that no genuine voter is excluded and no ineligible person is included. Attributing caste or communal motives by alleging a deliberate attempt to “disenfranchise” Dalit, backward class, or minority voters is unfounded. In Bihar, for instance, there has not been a single complaint that any genuine voter’s name was deleted.
Undermining constitutional institutions with baseless allegations for partisan reasons serves neither the country nor democracy. The motive behind such statements appears to be to instil suspicion among certain sections of society that the ECI, at the BJP’s behest, is attempting to disenfranchise them — a dangerous form of caste and communal polarisation.
Interestingly, experienced leaders like Stalin, Mamata Banerjee, and Pinarayi Vijayan understand the administrative importance of the SIR. Yet, making statements that seek to communalise a procedural exercise crucial to democracy is unsurprising given today’s political climate, where rhetoric often outweighs truth.
Political parties should confine their battles to the political arena rather than dragging constitutional institutions into them. Failure to dislodge the BJP from power for three consecutive terms does not justify blaming the ECI. The Opposition must introspect instead of attributing partisan motives to a routine administrative process.
Fortunately, not many people are willing to believe the conspiracy theory that the ECI is aiding the BJP through the SIR.
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