After NDA sweeps Bihar polls, PM urges all parties to participate in SIR to 'clean up' rolls
New Delhi (PTI): Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday urged all political parties to participate in the ongoing SIR of electoral rolls by appointing their workers in all polling stations, as he lauded the people of Bihar for "supporting" the exercise to "clean up" the voters' list.
Addressing BJP workers at the party headquarters here after NDA's stunning victory in Bihar elections, Modi said voters of Bihar have given a "massive support" to the special intensive revision (SIR).
He said it was a duty of all political parties to activate their workers in all polling booths and "contribute in purification of voters' list," he said.
In phase two of SIR in nine states and three Union territories, 46.5 crore enumeration forms have so far been distributed.
The states and UTs are: Chhattisgarh, Goa, Gujarat, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Puducherry, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, and Lakshadweep.
Among these, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, Kerala, and West Bengal will go to polls in 2026.
In Assam, where elections are also due in 2026, the revision of electoral rolls will be announced separately.
Phase two of the SIR exercise began on November 4 with the enumeration stage and will continue till December 4.
The EC will release the draft electoral rolls on December 9, and the final rolls will be published on February 7.
The ruling Trinamool Congress in West Bengal and the DMK in Tamil Nadu have opposed the SIR exercise, claiming it will disenfranchise eligible citizens for want of documents.
After the SIR in Bihar, the EC has included the Aadhaar card in the list of indicative documents people will have to submit in the 12 states and UTs.
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Will continue to keep tab on development work in Bihar: Nitish to JD(U) MLAs
Patna (PTI): JD(U) president Nitish Kumar on Monday told party legislators that he will continue to keep a tab on the development work in Bihar despite having given up the chief minister's post a week ago.
Kumar addressed a meeting of the legislative party at 1, Anney Marg, which is the official residence of the chief minister and which the JD(U) supremo, now a Rajya Sabha MP, had occupied for nearly two decades.
Speaking to reporters after the meeting, JD(U) MLC and spokesperson Neeraj Kumar said, "Our party leader has said that except for sessions of Parliament, which would require his presence in Delhi, he will spend his maximum time in Bihar."
"Nitish Kumar told us that he will ensure that the good work done while he was in power continues under the new government, in which the JD(U) is an important partner. To keep a tab, he will tour the state in due course," Neeraj Kumar said.
The JD(U) spokesperson was asked about speculations that the meeting had been convened to decide on the role to be assigned to Nishant, the party supremo's son, who joined the JD(U) last month, but has declined to accept a ministerial berth in the Samrat Choudhary government.
"There is no confusion about the role of Nishant, who has been accepted by the party as the leader of the future. In any case, there was no discussion on him today," Neeraj Kumar said.
Nitish Kumar has been authorised by the legislators to decide on choosing the legislative party leader, he added.
Among those present at the meeting were Union minister and former JD(U) national president Rajiv Ranjan Singh 'Lalan' and Deputy Chief Ministers Vijay Kumar Chaudhary and Bijendra Prasad Yadav.
Interestingly, don turned politician Anant Kumar Singh, who represents Mokama assembly seat, claimed after the meeting that MLAs were asked by the supreme leader to try and win "200 seats in the next elections".
"Nitish Kumar ji told us that he will now be more easily available for party workers and general public. He also said that he will extensively tour the state and asked us to work hard so that the party wins 200 seats in the next elections", said Singh, who is often in news for putting his foot in the mouth.
The Bihar assembly is 243-strong and the JD(U)'s current tally is 85, four less than ally BJP, which is the single largest party.
The JD(U)'s best-ever performance was in 2010, when it had contested 142 seats and won 115 of these. It was also the highest tally for any single party since Bihar's truncation in 2000, until when Jharkhand was part of the state and assembly had 324 seats.
