Jairam Ramesh accused the BJP and EC of wrongful voter deletions in Delhi under the ASDD categories during the SIR exercise. Citing a report, he said many genuine voters were removed and called for the restoration of the electoral rolls.
Senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh on Monday targeted the BJP and the Election Commission, alleging wrongful deletions of voters in the Absent, Shifted, Dead and Duplicate (ASDD) categories in the national capital during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.
Ramesh Cites Civil Society Audit
Citing a media report, the Congress MP alleged that about 100 voters in two polling booths in Delhi were wrongly deleted in the ASDD categories. He argued that it is for the poll body to “clear up the mess” and not the civil society, which is hosting camps for electors.
In an X post, Ramesh said, “Vast majority of deletions in the disastrous SIR process have been in the ASDD category: Absent, Shifted, Dead and Duplicate. The BJP and its unofficial spokespersons are using this to defend SIR as ‘cleaning the voter rolls’.” “But a public audit by civil society organisations in Delhi exposed the widespread wrongful deletions taking place in the name of ‘ASDD’. They found at least 100 voters in just 2 polling booths who had been wrongly deleted under ‘ASDD’ – most in the Shifted or Absent categories. Over 9 crore voters have been deleted across the country in these 2 categories alone. How many of them are genuine voters being denied their right to vote?” he asked.
EC's Door-to-Door Visits Questioned
He said that such irregularities exposed the reality of the door-to-door visits, which were mandatory to be held by the Booth Level Officers (BLOs). Ramesh called for restoration of electors whose names he alleged were illegitimately deleted.
Congress Demands Action
He said, “Reports also expose the reality of the ‘special camps’ and door-to-door visits promised by the Election Commission of India in its various damage-control Press Notes. Many wrongfully deleted voters are unaware of these camps and have not been contacted by their Booth Level Officers (BLOs).” “It should not be civil society but the ECI itself that is clearing up the mess created by its disastrous SIR. The illegal and unconstitutional SIR process must be stopped immediately. All illegitimately deleted voters must be restored to the electoral rolls,” the X post read.
This comes amid the INDIA bloc’s ongoing agitation against Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar and the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise. Congress has demanded the removal of CEC Kumar and a rollback of the SIR exercise.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by Asianet Newsable English staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
