Posters put up across various mosques in U’khand
By Arun Pratap Singh
Garhwal Post Bureau
Dehradun, 12 May: The process of Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls is likely to begin in Uttarakhand within the next few weeks. Ahead of this, posters and notices have started appearing in several mosques across the state asking people from the Muslim community to keep documents dating back nearly 40 years ready for verification purposes.
The notices displayed at mosques are also informing people that assistance would be provided through mosque committees and workers associated with Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind to help complete voter-related documentation. The developments have gained attention at a time when discussions around demographic changes in Uttarakhand are already continuing in social and political circles.
There is also widespread discussion regarding the SIR exercise in Uttarakhand over claims that a large number of names appearing in voter lists are not traceable at their listed addresses. Most of these names are being linked to people who reportedly migrated from other states and subsequently got themselves enrolled in electoral rolls in Uttarakhand. During recent elections in Bihar, West Bengal and Assam, several people were said to have cast votes there on the basis of their names being registered in electoral rolls of those states as well.
A number of cases reportedly surfaced where names of voters were found registered in electoral rolls of multiple states. It is being claimed that many such people travelled back to their native states to cast votes due to benefits available there and due to local political equations.
With the SIR process now likely to begin soon in Uttarakhand as well, preparations are underway at both administrative and political levels. The state presently has 11,733 polling booths and around 811 new polling booths are also likely to be created, whose voter lists would also undergo SIR verification. Officials associated with the process claim that nearly 88 per cent of the work has already been completed, while verification of the remaining 12 per cent voters is still underway. The pre-SIR verification drive shows that Dehradun, Haridwar and Udham Singh Nagar are the districts where there is large verification gap in the pre-SIR exercise held earlier. In most of the hill districts on the other hand, over 90 percent of voters have already been verified.
Sources have claimed that Congress in Uttarakhand has activated Muslim leaders in an attempt to consolidate its vote bank ahead of the revision exercise. According to sources, workers associated with Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind are also preparing to assist people through mosques in completing voter-related documentation. The Congress is said to have already identified BLAs or booth level agents for almost all polling booths in the state.
At the same time, the BJP has also intensified preparations for the exercise, though it is lagging behind the Congress in this respect. The party has completed training of its BLAs appointed for polling booths across the state. These BLAs would review missing voters as well as newly added voters in their respective areas.
It may be noted here that, while the Election Commission deputes booth level officers for the SIR exercise, the political parties are expected to nominate their booth level agents (BLAs) to ensure proper verification of voters.
Meanwhile, during pre-mapping exercises in districts bordering Uttar Pradesh, several lakh voters are reportedly not being found at their listed locations. In Dehradun alone, the number of slum settlements has risen sharply over the years. At the time of the formation of Uttarakhand, the district reportedly had 75 slum settlements with a limited population. Their number increased to 102 by 2004 and further rose to 129 in 2008. By 2016, the number had reached around 150 and is now said to be close to 200.
Large stretches of government land falling under flood zone categories along the Rispana, Bindal and other seasonal rivers flowing through Dehradun have allegedly witnessed illegal encroachments over the years. People settled in these areas had also got their names entered in voter lists.
Amid these developments, discussions have also intensified over the possibility of the Union Government moving towards the concept of “One Nation, One Election” and eventually a single voter list for all elections in the country. Under such a system, whether elections are held for Lok Sabha, Vidhan Sabha or local bodies, a common electoral roll could be prepared for use across the country in order to save both time and expenditure.
There is a growing perception that such a system has become possible in the digital era and could make the electoral process more transparent. For this reason, many voters are now reportedly considering registering their names only in the voter list of their original place of residence.
There is also discussion that, like several other countries, India may in future move towards online voting as part of wider electoral reforms. In view of these possibilities, voters are said to be taking the upcoming SIR exercise far more seriously this time.
