Rebutting the allegations of senior Congress leader P Chidambaram regarding the Special Intensive Revision (SIR), the Election Commission of India on Sunday said that statements made by the former finance minister regarding the "inclusion" of "migrant voters" in Tamil Nadu are "misleading" and "baseless".
The poll body reacted to P Chidambaram's assertion that there has been an addition of about 6.5 lakh migrant workers to the electoral roll in Tamil Nadu. ECI highlighted that "false figures" are being circulated about "enrollment of 6.5 lakh voters" in Tamil Nadu.
On X, ECI wrote in a post, "There is no requirement for political leaders to circulate misinformation with regard to the SIR exercise being organised by ECI nationwide. The ECI has come to realise that such misinformation is being circulated in the media with a motive to hamper the exercise. For as far as voters who have irrevocably moved from Bihar to other states and are normally resident in the latter, the precise numbers can be understood only after the SIR has been carried out."
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“The body conducting the poll said that up to this point, the SIR exercise hasn't been conducted in Tamil Nadu. "It is hence ridiculous to associate the SIR exercise in Bihar with TN."
This sort of peddling of untruths with regards to SIR needs to be avoided." Election Commission also informed that a person who is originally from Tamil Nadu, but is normally residing in Delhi, can be registered as an Elector in Delhi. "In the same way, a person originally from Bihar, but is normally residing in Chennai, can be registered as an Elector in Chennai," said ECI, referring to Section 20 of Representation of the People Act, 1950, which defines "Ordinary Resident".
Earlier in the day, the Senior Congress leader had condemned the ECI over the 'reports' of the addition of about 6.5 lakh migrant workers to Tamil Nadu's voters' list and termed it "alarming" and "patently illegal.
"In an X post on X, Chidambaram stated, “The SIR exercise is getting curiouser and curiouser. While 65 lakh voters are in peril of being disenfranchised in Bihar, reports of ‘adding’ 6.5 lakh persons as voters in Tamil Nadu is alarming and patently illegal Calling them ‘permanently migrated’ is an insult to the migrant workers and a gross interference in the right of the electorate of Tamil Nadu to elect a government of its choice. Why should the migrant worker not return to Bihar (or his/her home state) to vote in the State Assembly election, as they usually do? Does not the migrant worker return to Bihar at the time of the Chhath puja festival? A person to be enrolled as a voter must have a fixed and permanent legal home."
During the allegations over the deletion of names from the voters' list in Bihar, the Election Commission of India (ECI) on Sunday stated that not a single claim or objection has been lodged by any political party since the release of the draft electoral rolls on August 1.
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