Opposition has forgotten that only citizens can be voters |
Leaders of Congress and other Opposition parties, including the TMC, DMK and RJD, have been vehemently opposing the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls by the Election Commission of India (EC). They are doing so despite the fact that the EC is mandated by the Constitution and laws to revise and update electoral rolls periodically. Some of these parties have even moved the Supreme Court in order to stop the exercise.
These parties had opposed the SIR in Bihar but failed to get a favourable response from the apex court. Eventually, only a negligible number of voters came forward to lodge a complaint about unlawful deletions.
The SIR must be carried out to remove the names of all those who are dead, have moved house or have illegally entered the voters’ list. This exercise is a necessity if one wishes to ensure the purity of the democratic process.
If the Election Commission of India fails in its duty, the floodgates will open for illegal immigrants and infiltrators to smuggle themselves onto our electoral rolls. This poses a grave danger to the........