BJP urges EC to verify identity of burqa-clad voters during Bihar polls, RJD calls it political ploy
Patna (PTI): The BJP on Saturday urged the Election Commission to hold the upcoming Bihar assembly elections in one or two phases, and to ensure that women in burqas are properly verified against their voter ID photographs at the polling booths.
The BJP found itself on the same page as the RJD, its principal rival, on the issue of non-staggered elections, but got charged with "political conspiracy" for raising the issue of female voters wearing veils.
After a meeting with the visiting EC team, led by Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, state BJP president Dilip Jaiswal said, "We have urged the Election Commission to conduct the elections in one or two phases. The election process need not be staggered. Also, tallying of faces of voters, especially burqa-clad women, must be ensured with respective EPIC cards so that only genuine voters get to exercise their franchise."
The EC, which is on a two-day tour of the state, held talks with representatives of recognised political parties ahead of the announcement of election dates.
The RJD delegation was headed by Abhay Kushwaha, the party's leader in the Lok Sabha, who was accompanied by spokespersons Chitaranjan Gagan and Mukund Singh.
When Kushwaha's attention was drawn to Jaiswal's contention on burqas, he snapped, "This is a political conspiracy. Only recently has the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls been carried out. New EPIC cards are to be issued to all voters with fresh photographs. Identification of voters is no big deal. But the BJP wants to push its own agenda".
The RJD leader, however, disclosed that, like the BJP, "we urged the EC to consider holding the polls in not more than two phases, since not much time is left (for expiry of the term of the current assembly)”.
It was also the RJD’s contention that the polls be held after Chhath, the state's most popular festival, held six days after Diwali, which falls at the end of October this year.
Jaiswal, too, had said that the BJP delegation urged the EC to ensure "no further delay in polling dates than the mandatory 28-day gap between the date of announcement of elections and the day on which voting begins. So, if elections are announced in a few days from now, polling should begin November 3-4 onwards".
Smaller parties like Union Minister Chirag Paswan's Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) and INDIA bloc partner CPI(ML) Liberation also told the Election Commission that they were in favour of assembly polls being held in "not more than two phases".
Both the BJP and the RJD acknowledged that there were a large number of villages in Bihar, with a sizeable population of weaker sections who were "intimidated" during polls.
Jaiswal was of the view that "paramilitary forces be deployed in villages with a heavy population of weaker sections like extremely backward classes, a few days in advance, and a flag march-like exercise be conducted to instil confidence among the voters".
He said that in riverine areas, which have had a history of booth capturing, deployment of cavalry must also be ensured.
On the other hand, Kushwaha sought from the EC "identification, at the earliest, of all sensitive booths and the list be shared with us so that we could circulate the same among our cadres in order to prevent intimidation of voters from the weaker sections"
He said the EC also had a few suggestions for political parties.
"It said that upon completion of voting, polling agents must obtain Form 17C from the presiding officer. Many times, the agents leave their assigned booths without doing so, leaving the scope for unnecessary disputes later," he added.
However, the RJD MP asserted that even if polling agents of a party leave the booth before completion of voting, Form 17C remains available with presiding officers in computerised form.
"It must be ensured that printouts of these are provided to all candidates," he said.
The RJD, which has been voicing apprehensions that the SIR might have been carried out to “help” the BJP-led NDA, also urged the EC to divulge details of the 3.66 lakh persons whose names were deleted from the final electoral roll published earlier this week.
The RJD delegation also requested the poll panel to restrain the Nitish Kumar government from coming up with populist announcements "without any budgetary allocation" and "put an effective check on personal attacks and abuses hurled at rivals by political figures during the campaign".
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Ex-PM Devegowda warns opposition of electoral losses if they continue to allege 'vote chori'
New Delhi (PTI): Former Prime Minister H D Devegowda on Monday said the Opposition parties would "suffer" if they continue to raise allegations of "vote chori" and create suspicion in the minds of voters by blaming Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government.
Participating in a discussion on election reforms in the Rajya Sabha, he criticised the Opposition for making a mockery about the Prime Minister "in the streets and on the public platform".
"This (India) is a very big country. A large country. Congress may be in three states. Remember my friends please, by using the words 'vote chori' you are going to suffer in the coming days. You are not going to win the battle," Devegowda said, referring to the Opposition members.
He asked what the Opposition is going to earn by "blaming Narendra Modi's leadership and creating a suspicion in the mind of the voters" through the claims of "vote chori".
"What has happened to their minds? Let them rectify," Devegowda said.
ALSO READ: Search operation ends in Anjaw truck accident, 20 bodies recovered
The former prime minister said that during his over seven decades of public life, he has never raised such issues of vote theft despite facing defeat in elections.
He also cited a letter written by the then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru regarding inclusion of "18,000 votes" (voters) in Kerala.
"Why I am telling this (because) during the Nehru period also, there were certain lapses in the electoral system," said Devegowda, who was the prime minister between June 1, 1996 and April 21, 1997.
He said that the Congress party faced defeat in the recent Bihar elections despite raising the issues of mistakes in the electoral rolls.
"What happened after that even after so much review (of voters list). Think (for) yourself! You got six MLAs," the senior Janata Dal (Secular) leader said.
Devegowda questioned the Opposition as to why they want to make allegations against the prime minister on the issue of the voters list?
"Election Commission is there. Supreme Court is there. The Election Commission has given direction to all the state units to rectify all these things," he said.
Devegowda said people of the country have full confidence in Narendra Modi's government and it will come back to power after the next Lok Sabha elections as well.
K R Suresh Reddy, Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) party's Rajya Sabha member from Telangana, said that electoral reforms are the backbone for a healthy democracy.
He said a large and diverse nation like Indi needs clean electoral rolls.
Asserting that strict re-verification should not become a mechanism for exclusion, Reddy said no eligible voter should lose their right to vote simply because accessing paperwork is difficult.
He said while the concern definitely is on the voters' exclusion, "we should also be equally concerned about the percentage of voting."
"What is happening in voting today? Once the election ends, the drama begins. The biggest challenge that the Indian democracy has been facing in spite of two major Constitutional amendments has been the anti-defection. Anti-defection is the name of the game today, especially in smaller states, especially where the legislatures are small in number," Reddy said.
The senior BRS leader suggested creation of a parliamentary committee "which would constantly look into the defection" and "ways and means to cutting that".
AIADMK's M Thambidurai raised the issues related to election campaigning.
ALSO READ: National Herald case: Shivakumar to seek time next week to appear before Delhi police
"Election campaigns are one of the important election processes. In that, political parties must be given the proper chance to campaign," he said and cited problems faced by his party in Tamil Nadu in this regard.
Thambidurai said political parties were facing hardships in Tamil Nadu to conduct public meetings and to express their views to the public.
YSRCP's Yerram Venkata Subba Reddy stressed on bringing electoral reforms at both the state and national levels.
He also suggested replacing Electronic Voting Machines with paper ballots in all future elections.
"EVM may be efficient but can't be trusted. Paper ballot may not be efficient but can be trusted. You need trust in democracy," Reddy added.
