Some political parties didn’t ask for corrections…: ECI on voter roll row

Election Commission (EC) clarified that political parties are involved at all stages of preparation of electoral rolls and did not raise objections in time, as the poll body faces criticism over the voter list revision in Bihar and vote theft allegations.
A day before it is scheduled to address a presser on Sunday, EC said that physical and digital copies of draft electoral rolls are shared with all political parties and put on the ECI website for anyone to see. A one month period is then given for the filing of claims and objections. The final published voter list is also shared with all recognised political parties and a two-tiered appeals process is made available.
Defending itself against the criticism, EC said: “It seems that some political parties and their Booth Level Agents (BLAs) did not examine the Electoral Rolls at the appropriate time and did not point out errors.” The EC also said the parties that have objections to the electoral rolls did not raised objections “at the right time through the right channels”.
EC responded to the Opposition’s statements on the Bihar voter list revision exercise, stating that all political parties in Bihar were provided with the complete list of proposed deletions beginning July 20. This includes the names, reasons for proposed deletions, permanent migration, untraceability etc. and clear guidelines on filing objections.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi also levelled voter theft charges against the EC, for which the poll body has sought an apology if he fails to give an undertaking backing his allegations. In an August 7 press conference, the Leader of Opposition in Lok sabha presented Congress’ research on voting in the Mahadevapura Assembly in Karnataka to claim the theft of 1,00,250 votes.
He launched a scathing attack on the BJP and the EC and said that “collusion” happened between the poll body and the BJP, which resulted in Prime Minister Narendra Modi securing his third term. He also slammed the poll body and alleged that the elections are “choreographed”.
The commission has asked Gandhi to submit the names of those he claims have been wrongfully added or removed from the voters’ list, along with a signed declaration.
Gandhi begin the ‘Vote Adhikaar Yatra’ from Bihar’s Sasaram district on August 17 and will conclude in Patna on September 1. It will cover more than 20 districts, spanning 1,300 kilometres over 16 days.