By Arun Pratap Singh
Garhwal Post Bureau
Dehradun, 17 Aug: The ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Uttarakhand has revealed a large number of duplications in the voters’ list. Almost every day, the ongoing SIR is finding that the names of hundreds have reportedly been found in the electoral rolls of, both, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand. Majority of these duplications are linked to 4 districts, namely Udham Singh Nagar, Haridwar, Dehradun and Nainital.
This has raised a pertinent question whether these thousands of voters been exercising their franchise in both Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand?
According to information available from the officials involved in the SIR, a number of Assembly constituencies bordering Uttar Pradesh have thrown up such cases, leading to considerable political activity over the names appearing in the electoral rolls. The issue has also triggered political allegations and counter-allegations between the ruling BJP and the Congress.
The Congress has alleged that the BJP, or some other organised group, is systematically filing objections through Form 7 during the SIR process with the intention of getting the names of its supporters deleted from the electoral rolls. Congress leaders including Tilak Raj Behad, Anupama Rawat and Haji Mohammad Qazi have raised questions over the alleged deletion of voters belonging to a particular section of society.
The BJP, however, has rejected the allegations, maintaining that the objections have been filed only against those voters who were not found at the addresses mentioned in the electoral rolls. It has denied having any role in matters other than identifying such voters.
BJP state president Mahendra Bhatt claims that the Congress had traditionally indulged in the politics of appeasement and sought to protect the votes of infiltrators. He said the responsibility of preparing a clean and transparent electoral roll rests with the Election Commission, while BJP Booth Level Agents (BLAs) are only assisting the process.
Bhatt also claims that the removal of redundant and duplicate names from the electoral rolls would ultimately help increase the percentage of genuine voter participation during elections. He questioned why the Congress is concerned about the voters belonging to a particular section only when the Election Commission has the constitutional right to verify and investigate the names that have come under suspicion during the revision of electoral rolls.
According to information available, the electoral rolls of Udham Singh Nagar, Haridwar, Dehradun, Nainital and Pauri Garhwal districts have thrown up names through the software-based verification process which are also present in the electoral rolls of Uttar Pradesh.
The issue is particularly significant in view of the movement of people between neighbouring states. A large number of people from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal came to Uttarakhand in search of employment after 2003 and subsequently got their names enrolled in the electoral rolls of Uttarakhand. However, in a large number of cases, their names reportedly continue to remain in the electoral rolls of their respective states as well.
It has also emerged that some people from Bihar and West Bengal, who participated in the Assembly elections in their respective States and subsequently became part of the SIR process initiated there, may have had their names retained or re-enrolled in the electoral rolls of their home states even though they had already been registered as voters in Uttarakhand.
Similarly, the SIR exercise in Uttar Pradesh has already been completed, but names of a large number of voters who are also registered in Uttarakhand have reportedly continued to remain on the electoral rolls in Uttar Pradesh.
The situation has prompted the Election Commission to issue notices to voters whose names have allegedly been found on the electoral rolls of both states. Such voters will now have to clarify their status and establish where they are ordinarily residing and exercising their franchise. It may be recalled that notices have been issued to more than 9 lakh voters in Uttarakhand alone for various reasons including duplication of names.
It may be reminded here that the rules and the law regarding elections do not permit a person to be registered as a voter in more than one constituency. The ongoing verification process is therefore expected to identify and eliminate duplicate registrations while ensuring that genuine voters are not inadvertently removed from the electoral rolls.
The officials say that the Election Commission has now begun moving ahead with the process of preparing a cleaner and more accurate electoral roll in Uttarakhand. The exercise includes verification of doubtful entries and removal of duplicate names detected through the SIR process.
The latest findings are likely to keep the political debate over the SIR alive, particularly in the five districts where a substantial number of people have historically moved across the Uttarakhand-Uttar Pradesh border for employment and other reasons. While political parties may continue to trade allegations over the manner in which objections are being filed, the Election Commission’s stated objective remains the preparation of an accurate electoral roll by identifying genuine voters and removing duplicate or otherwise ineligible entries.
