EC to hold press conference on August 17 amid allegations of voter fraud
New Delhi: The Election Commission (EC) will hold a press conference on Sunday, August 17, at 3 pm at the National Media Centre in New Delhi. This comes at a time when the I.N.D.I.A. bloc is beginning its ‘Vote Adhikar Yatra’ in Bihar, reported the Deccan Herald.
The poll body also criticized the opposition parties over inaccuracies in the voters’ lists, stating that had they raised the issues earlier, they could have been resolved much sooner.
Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, along with Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi, will address the media. They are expected to speak about the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in Bihar and the opposition’s allegations that the EC is working with the BJP to ‘steal’ votes. Normally, the EC holds press conferences only to announce election schedules.
In a statement, the EC said that political parties should have raised objections to errors in the voters list during the “Claims and Objections” period that follows the publication of draft lists.
The Commission added that Electoral Registration Officers (EROs), usually Sub Divisional Magistrates, and Booth Level Officers (BLOs) are responsible for preparing accurate rolls, and errors could have been corrected earlier if pointed out at the right time.
“It appears that certain political parties and their Booth Level Agents (BLAs) failed to review the electoral rolls in time and did not highlight any errors, if present, to the SDMs/EROs, DEOs, or CEOs. Only recently have some parties and individuals raised concerns about mistakes in the rolls, including those prepared in earlier elections. If such issues had been brought up at the proper time through the proper channels, the concerned SDMs/EROs could have rectified the errors, if genuine, well before those elections,” it stated.
The EC stated that India’s election system for Parliament and Assembly polls is a “multi-layered, decentralised framework” as laid down by law. Electoral rolls are prepared and finalised by the EROs with the assistance of Booth Level Officers (BLOs), who are entrusted with ensuring the accuracy of the voters’ lists.
It noted that draft electoral rolls are shared with political parties and uploaded on the EC website, with a month’s window given for filing claims and objections. Once the final voters’ list is published, both digital and physical copies are again provided to all parties and made available online, along with a two-tier appeal mechanism. “Utmost transparency is the hallmark of electoral roll preparation in accordance with the law, rules, and guidelines,” it added.
The EC and the Opposition have been at loggerheads over the conduct of elections for some time, a dispute that has risen with the announcement of the SIR in Bihar, which is slated to be expanded nationwide in the coming months.
Allegations of vote theft in the Lok Sabha elections were also raised by Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi, who, along with RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav, is set to lead the ‘Voter Adhikar Yatra’ while simultaneously questioning the credibility of Assembly polls in Maharashtra and Haryana.
The issue has gained attention after the Supreme Court asked the EC to provide details of around 65 lakh voters whose names were removed from the draft rolls prepared after the SIR, along with the reasons for the deletions.
Meanwhile, opposition leaders, including Rahul Gandhi and RJD’s Tejashwi Yadav, will lead the ‘Voter Adhikar Yatra’ in Bihar. The 1,300 km march will cover 22 districts between August 17 and September 1.
Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera said the opposition would continue to oppose what it sees as the EC’s bias. He called the yatra a “historic march” aimed at protecting voting rights. CPI(ML)L General Secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya also criticised the EC, saying earlier claims about detecting large numbers of illegal immigrants on voter rolls had turned out to be false, with only three such cases reported in Parliament.
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Rickelton's ton in vain as SRH beat MI by 6 wickets
Mumbai (PTI): Ryan Rickelton's whirlwind unbeaten ton was overshadowed by Heinrich Klaasen's unbeaten 65 as Sunrisers Hyderabad defeated Mumbai Indians by six wickets in an IPL match here on Wednesday.
Chasing an imposing 244-run target, Travis Head (76 off 30) and Abhishek Sharma (45 off 24) shared 129 runs for the opening wicket to set the platform for SRH.
Klaasen (65 not out off 30 balls) then displayed his all-round hitting abilities to guide SRH home with the help of Nitish Kumar Reddy (21) and Salil Arora (30 not out off 10) in 18.4 overs.
Earlier, Rickelton's knock powered MI to 243 for five.
MI rode on a 93-run stand between Rickelton (123 not out off 55 balls) and Will Jacks (46 off 22) in 7.1 overs for the opening stand to power the side.
MI skipper Hardik Pandya scored a valuable 31 off 15 balls before being dismissed.
Praful Hinge (2/54), Eshan Malinga (1/29), Sakib Hasan (1/39) and Nitish Kumar Reddy (1/31) were the wicket-takers for SRH.
Brief Scores:
Mumbai Indian: 243 for 5 in 20 overs (Ryan Rickelton 123 not out; Praful Hinge 2/54).
Sunrisers Hyderabad: 249 for 4 in 18.4 overs (Travis Head 76, Heinrich Klaasen 65 not out; AM Ghazanfar 2/51).
