23 lakh women voters deleted under SIR, mostly from closely fought 2020 seats: Cong
New Delhi (PTI): The Congress on Sunday claimed that the names of about 23 lakh women have been removed from the voter list in Bihar under the SIR with the bulk of them being from 59 assembly seats where a "close contest" was witnessed in the 2020 elections.
Reiterating its "vote chori" claims, the opposition party also asked when these women had cast their votes in the Lok Sabha elections last year, were these votes "fraudulent" and whether MPs elected on "fake votes" helped form the government.
All India Mahila Congress president Alka Lamba alleged that "at the behest of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah", the Election Commission is committing "massive fraud" in the name of Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar.
"There are approximately 3.5 crore women voters in Bihar, but the names of approximately 23 lakh women have been removed from the voters' list," she claimed at a press conference at the Congress' Indira Bhawan headquarters here.
These women will not be able to vote in the upcoming assembly elections and "we believe this decision is against the Constitution", Lamba said.
"The six districts in Bihar from where the names of maximum number of women have been removed from the voters' list are Gopalganj, Saran, Begusarai, Samastipur, Bhojpur, and Purnea," she claimed.
The six districts where the highest number of women's names were removed from the electoral rolls encompass about 60 assembly seats, Lamba said.
"If we look at the 2020 assembly election data, the INDIA bloc parties won 25 seats here while the NDA bagged 34 and a close contest was witnessed," Lamba said. "Now, the Election Commission has committed massive fraud in these very seats in the name of SIR," she alleged.
In Bihar, the names of 22.7 lakh women have been deleted, while the names of approximately 15 lakh men have been removed from the voters' list, Lamba claimed.
The Congress is running a nationwide signature campaign against this "vote theft", during which the party will collect five crore signatures, she said.
"The votes of lakhs of women in Bihar were deleted. In such a situation, our questions are: When these same women cast their votes in the Lok Sabha elections last year, were these votes still fraudulent? Did these fake votes elect MPs who formed the government?" Lamba said.
"Today, a conspiracy is underway to add and delete names at the last minute, but we will expose it," the Mahila Congress president said.
"On one hand, Prime Minister Modi is depositing money into women's accounts to influence the Bihar elections, and on the other hand, he, in collusion with the Election Commission, deleted the names of approximately 23 lakh women from the voters' list," she said.
"Modi has targeted and cancelled women's votes and taken away their rights. But no matter how much Narendra Modi and the Election Commission try, we will not allow 'vote theft' to happen in Bihar," she said.
Her remarks came on a day Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar voiced satisfaction over the completion of SIR in Bihar, claiming that the exercise "purified" the voters' list after 22 years.
He made the remarks at a press conference in Patna before winding up his tour of the state, where assembly elections are likely to be announced soon.
The total number of electors in poll-bound Bihar have come down by nearly 47 lakh to 7.42 crore in the final electoral roll published last Tuesday from 7.89 crore before the SIR of the voters' list carried out by the Election Commission.
The final figure has, however, increased by 17.87 lakh from 7.24 crore electors named in the draft list issued on August 1, which had removed 65 lakh voters from the original list on various accounts, including deaths, migration and duplication of voters.
While 21.53 lakh new electors have been added to the draft list, 3.66 lakh names have been removed from there, resulting in a net increase of 17.87 lakh.
The final figure may change marginally after supplementary lists are published during the poll process.
The EC's exercise has drawn sharp protests from the Opposition, which has accused the poll watchdog of working at the behest of the ruling BJP, a charge it has flatly rejected.
The Commission has asserted that it will not allow any eligible citizen to be left out of the voters' list and at the same time, not let any ineligible person be on the list.
The assembly election schedule is likely to be announced by the poll body this week and the polls are expected to be held soon after Chhath, an important festival in Bihar that would be celebrated in the last week of October.
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Lebanon appoints new representative for talks with Israel, rejects linkage to Iran
Beirut: Lebanon’s has moved to underline its independent position in ongoing regional developments, amid attempts to link the country to the broader conflict involving Iran, the United States and Israel.
President Joseph Aoun, while announcing the appointment of former US ambassador Simon Karam as Lebanon’s representative in talks with Israel, made it clear that Karam would be the sole representative for Lebanon and that there would be no substitute.
The move comes in response to what the Lebanese officials see as efforts by Iran to tie Lebanon’s situation to the wider regional conflict. Iran had indicated that there would be no ceasefire involving the US, Israel and Iran unless it also included a ceasefire in Lebanon.
Some groups, including Hezbollah and its supporters, had expressed support for linking the situations, citing concerns that the Lebanese government has limited leverage in negotiations with Israel. Lebanon is not formally a party to the conflict, and its army is considered weak.
However, others, including Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, have opposed this approach. They view Iran’s stance as an attempt to influence Lebanon’s internal affairs and see it as undermining the country’s sovereignty.
Officials backing the government’s position say the move is aimed at reaffirming Lebanon’s sovereignty and ensuring that decisions about peace and ceasefire within the country are not dictated externally.
They also see it as a safeguard, so that any breakdown in talks between the US, Israel and Iran does not automatically lead to renewed conflict in Lebanon.
