Hyderabad/New Delhi: Amid the Opposition bloc’s objections to the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in poll-bound Bihar, the Telugu Desam Party (TDP), a key NDA partner, has highlighted several considerations for the Election Commission (EC) in conducting the exercise. Many of these suggestions echo the Opposition’s concerns.
In a four-page submission to Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar in New Delhi Tuesday, the Chandrababu Naidu-led party has red-flagged some contentious matters like the timing and verification linked to citizenship.
While recognising the SIR as “a valuable opportunity to ensure that the electoral rolls are updated in a fair, inclusive, and transparent manner,” the TDP stated that “to ensure voter confidence and administrative preparedness, the SIR process should be conducted with sufficient lead time, ideally not within six months of any major election”.
Opposition parties are questioning the exercise, taken up 3-4 months before the Bihar polls.
The timing of the ECI’s exercise in Bihar is a concern which the Supreme Court also highlighted while hearing petitions opposing the SIR process. The SC in its order listed three questions the petitioners raised, one of them being: “The timing for undertaking the present exercise including the time line given for preparation of the Draft Electoral Rolls, objections, etc, and the final publication of Electoral Roll, considering the fact that Bihar State Assembly elections are due in November, 2025, for which notifications will come weeks in advance”.
Seeking clarity on SIR purpose, scope, the TDP said that it should be “limited to electoral roll correction and inclusion”.
“It should be explicitly communicated that the exercise is not related to citizenship verification, and any field instructions must reflect this distinction,” it added.
In its order directing the SIR in Bihar last month, the ECI had cited Article 326 of the Constitution, which says that elections to the Lok Sabha and the legislative assemblies shall be on the basis of adult suffrage. This, the provision says, means “every person who is a citizen of India and who is not less than eighteen years of age…shall be entitled to be registered as a voter at any such election”.
However, during the hearing on petitions challenging the Bihar electoral roll revision, lawyers appearing for the petitioners had taken objection to the ECI determining “citizenship” through the revision exercise. For instance, senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for RJD MP Prof Manoj Kumar Jha, asserted that it is only the Government of India that can contest a person’s citizenship and not a “small officer of the EC”.
The TDP said voters already enrolled in the most recent certified electoral roll should not be required to re-establish their eligibility unless specific and verifiable reasons are recorded.
“In line with the judgment of the Supreme Court in Lal Babu Hussein v. Electoral Registration Officer prior inclusion creates a presumption of validity, and any deletion must be preceded by a valid inquiry,” the party said in its submission adding that “the burden of proof lies with the ERO or objector, not the voter, especially when the name exists in the official roll.”
The petitioners challenging the revision in Bihar have relied on a 1995 judgment the TDP also cited. In this verdict, the Supreme Court had taken objection to the generalised removal of individuals who were voters in past elections, and them being asked to prove their eligibility to find their place back in the rolls. It had asserted that in cases in which persons were voters in previous elections, it would be presumed that before entering their names, the concerned officer must have gone through the procedural requirements under the statute.
The party requested the commission to issue “clear procedural guidance stating that deletion of any voter must be based on a reasoned order, proper notice, and an opportunity to respond.”
“Where voters are unable to submit documents at the time of visit, stage-wise verification should be permitted, instead of immediate exclusion.”
‘Nothing to do with SIR in Bihar’
A delegation of TDP leaders including AP unit chief Palla Srinivasa Rao, MPs Lavu Sri Krishna Devarayalu, Byreddy Shabari, Prasada Rao, and party leader Jyothsna Tirunagari submitted the suggestions to ECI, on a day party supremo is also in New Delhi.
“Our submissions have nothing to do with the SIR in Bihar. It is part of our party’s larger support for reforms in the election processes, be it eradication of duplicate cards or other matters. We want technology-enabled electoral roll management.,” Tirunagari told ThePrint.
Though Andhra Pradesh is not due for assembly elections until 2029, the ruling party requested the ECI to start the process in the state as early as possible. The ECI, in its order announcing the Bihar revision had also said that it has decided to begin such a revision in the entire country for “discharge of its constitutional mandate to protect the integrity of the electoral rolls”, but was starting the exercise in Bihar since it will go to polls this year.
Since Andhra Pradesh has high levels of seasonal migration, particularly from rural and coastal regions, SIR should deploy mobile BLO units and accept temporary address declarations to prevent exclusion of such workers and displaced families, TDP said in the letter.
(Edited by Gitanjali Das)
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