Welfare Party of India slams Election Commission’s move to revise Bihar voter list
New Delhi: The Welfare Party of India has strongly criticized the Election Commission of India’s (ECI) decision to revise the voter list in Bihar, alleging that the move could lead to the mass exclusion of genuine voters ahead of the upcoming state elections.
In a press statement issued on Saturday, Dr. SQR Ilyas, National General Secretary of the Welfare Party of India, described the ECI’s decision as a “devious and dubious idea,” raising serious concerns about its timing and implications. With elections scheduled for November, Dr. Ilyas questioned the practicality of preparing a new list of 80 million voters in just 25 days, particularly when nearly 73% of Bihar is grappling with flood conditions.
He warned that such a hurried revision process could result in widespread disenfranchisement, as lakhs of government officials responsible for document verification would have unchecked authority to determine voter eligibility. “This undermines the very essence of adult franchise,” he stated.
Dr. Ilyas also highlighted the plight of thousands of Bihari migrant workers who are currently employed outside the state. Traditionally, many of these workers return during elections to cast their votes, but the ongoing revision may now prevent them from being included in the new list. Citing emerging reports, he claimed that as many as 20 million voters could be excluded through this process.
Referring to recent political developments, Dr. Ilyas noted that the INDIA bloc, a coalition of 11 political parties, has already met with Election Commission officials to voice their opposition. He asserted that the voter list revision amounts to an attack on the basic structure of the Constitution.
The Welfare Party of India, he affirmed, will join the INDIA bloc at the forefront of protests and legal efforts to challenge this decision.
Dr. Ilyas concluded by stating that the Election Commission, as an autonomous constitutional body, is duty-bound to uphold democratic principles and ensure free and fair elections. He warned that it must not allow itself to become “a tool to serve the ulterior motives of the BJP government.”
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Loco pilots' union alleges manipulation of working hours to hide overutilisation
New Delhi (PTI): The loco pilots' union has alleged that various railway zones are manipulating the working hours of train drivers by falsely entering duty breaks during their 12 to 16-hour-long trips in the online Crew Management System (CMS) to hide their overutilisation.
As per railway norms, a loco pilot cannot be asked to work more than 9 hours at a stretch and no more than 11 hours in total from sign-on to sign-off. Since 2021, the Safety Department of the Railway Board has instructed all zonal railways that 80 per cent of trips should be completed within the 9-hour limit.
The Railway Ministry had earlier stated that it has not only initiated aggressive recruitment of loco pilots but also created several amenities for them, including urinal facilities in over 900 locomotives, air-conditioning systems in over 7,000 locomotives, and upgraded all 558 running rooms across the rail network.
The All India Loco Running Staff Association (AILRSA) stated that safety regulations prohibit overburdening loco pilots with excessive duty hours. They alleged that rail administrations are regularly violating these rules to compensate for a 15–20 per cent staff shortage.
"Though this illegal practice is happening in many divisions and zones, we have started by raising the issue with the General Manager of East Central Railway (ECR). We have submitted a memorandum compiling several issues that affect loco pilots' working conditions, including the false trip break," said Ashok Kumar Raut, General Secretary of AILRSA.
The ECR has not responded to the allegations.
However, following Raut's representation, one of ECR's divisions, Dhanbad, issued a circular dated July 15, 2025, warning of strict action against the false insertion of duty breaks between sign-on and sign-off in the CMS.
"A direction is being issued to all to not break duty hours between the sign-on and sign-off of the crew while registering it in CMS (Crew Management System). If it is happening in any crew lobby, it must be stopped immediately. If such cases are found, strict disciplinary action will be taken," the circular stated.
Raut explained that lobby officials record the sign-on and sign-off times of loco pilots in the CMS when their shift starts and ends, respectively. However, in cases where a loco pilot works for more than 12 hours, contractual staff at the lobby are allegedly inserting fake duty breaks -- ranging from 45 minutes to 2 hours -- on verbal orders from senior officials to conceal overutilisation.
Each railway division submits monthly crew working hours data to the Railway Board in a fixed format. These duty breaks are reportedly used to avoid detection of excessive working hours, which violates operational safety norms.
"This illegal and unsafe practice of inserting duty breaks in the system is being done on the verbal orders of some senior officials, such as the Chief Traction Loco Controller and Chief Crew Controller. Railways has outsourced CMS data entry work to private personnel, and these officials instruct them to insert such breaks," Raut alleged.
He added, "I have gathered data from some divisions on illegal trip breaks by lobby staff. In May and June 2025, in the Dhanbad division alone, there were 2,719 such cases; 1,883 in the Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyay Nagar division; and 785 in the Danapur division."
He also claimed that the Samastipur and Sonpur divisions manipulated working hours in 304 and 83 cases, respectively.
Earlier this year, in April, South Central Railway reviewed CMS data on loco pilots’ working hours and found that, in 545 cases in the Secunderabad division, 42 in Vijayawada, 26 in Guntakal, three each in Guntur and Nanded, and one in the Hyderabad division, goods train loco pilots worked between 13:55 and 14:00 hours but were compelled to feed incorrect times to hide actual duty hours.
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