TMC MP slams Bihar electoral roll revision, claims 1.26 crore voters 'deleted'

Trinamool Congress MP Saket Gokhale on Monday said 126 crore voters have been deleted from Bihars electoral rolls following the Special Intensive Revision SIR exercise and challenged the government to a debate on the issue in ParliamentSharing the Election Commissions SIR data in a post on X Gokhale said the poll panel conveniently did not share any information regarding its claim of having found foreign nationals in BiharAs the monthlong first phase of the SIR has concluded the EC on Sunday said that enumeration forms from 724 crore or 9169 per cent of voters of the state have been receivedIt also said 36 lakh people were found to have either permanently shifted from their previous addresses or were not found It pointed out that seven lakh Bihar voters were found to have enrolled themselves at multiple placesECI has deleted 126 crore voters in Bihar from the 2024 Lok Sabha voter list overnight Gokhale the TMC Rajya Sabha MP said on XCalling the details revealed by the EC bizarre Gokhale pointed out that of a total of 790 crore voters forms have been collected from only 9169 per cent 724 crore votersThis means that forms were not collected from 65 lakh voters and they will be deleted About 22 lakh voters 283 per cent have been deleted because theyre claimed to be deceased about 36 lakh voters 459 per cent have been deleted because theyre claimed to be untraceable and about 7 lakh voters 089 per cent claimed to be found as duplicate entries so half ie 35 lakh entries deleted he saidECI has conveniently not disclosed how many voters were found to be noncitizens of India This is important because ECI had claimed that the SIR was being done to remove illegal immigrants Gokhale saidEC sources had earlier said their fieldlevel functionaries found a large number of people from Nepal Bangladesh and Myanmar during housetohouse visits made for the ongoing intensive review of the voters list in BiharGokhale further said the names deleted were on the voters list in the last Lok Sabha pollsA total of 126 crore voters in Bihar whose names were on the Lok Sabha 2024 voter list just one year ago have been deleted from the new voter list he saidTo give you a comparable idea the number of deleted voters in Bihar during the current SIR is equal to the entire combined population of Uttarakhand plus Himachal Pradesh or the entire combined population of all 6 states of the NorthEast excluding Assam he saidHe said EC needed to answer some questions urgentlyThe voter list was revised by ECI before the 2024 Lok Sabha elections How on earth did 126 crore voters become ineligible in just one year he saidHow many voters has the ECI been unable to reach for collecting their forms Under the rules of SIR those whose forms were not collected will be deleted Therefore what is the total number of voters whose names have been deleted only because their forms were not collected he questionedHe said the EC has not collected documents along with the forms from all 724 crore votersDoes this mean that more voters will be deleted if their documents have not been collected with their formsHe reiterated West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjees statement that the SIR exercise is NRC by the back doorECI had claimed removing foreigners from the voter list as one of the reasons for conducting this SIR Why has the ECI not disclosed how many actual foreigners were found and deleted from the voter list during this SIR he saidIt makes zero sense that 12 million people in Bihar have become ineligible voters in just one year between the 2024 Lok Sabha elections till date When 12 million people in a single state lose the right to vote overnight it is a serious issue he saidHe added that the opposition MPs have been pressing for a debate on the issueWhy is the Modi Govt so scared to have an open discussion on this in Parliament he addedMeanwhile the EC has asserted that no names will be deleted from draft rolls without following due processThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever