Shillong, Sep 29: South Shillong MLA and cabinet minister Sanbor Shullai today strongly defended the need to conduct the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voter rolls.
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) politicians have been leaping to the defence of SIR and the Election Commission of India (ECI). The latter has come under intense criticism for the way it has handled the SIR, with opposition parties claiming that it has been systematically targeting minorities (read Muslims) for deletion from the rolls in order to weaken anti-BJP parties. Although it is meant to be an independent body, the opposition have alleged that the current ECI under Gyanesh Kumar has politicised the commission in favour of the BJP.
Shullai said today that the SIR is necessary to prevent ineligible persons, including illegal immigrants, from obtaining voting rights. He called the criticism of the ECI and its chief “misinformation”.
Reports of a lack of consensus in the three-member commission came to the fore through a sensational news item in a national newspaper last week. Shullai referred to a joint note issued by Kumar and the two other officials on the commission as proof that the suggestion that there was a lack of consensus within the poll panel was untrue.
Shullai further claimed the SIR exercise was particularly important for Meghalaya, which is currently undergoing the revision of its electoral rolls.
“I appeal to people not to fall prey to the false claims of the Congress,” Shullai said, while urging voters to rely on official information regarding the exercise.
But what is notable about the Meghalaya SIR process is how only a few voters have been deleted from the rolls. Out of 5.9 lakh hearings just 910 names have been found to be ineligible, which is 0.15 percent. How many of these removed voters are illegal migrants is not known as the reason for their removal from the rolls has not been provided by the Election Department in Meghalaya.
Shullai further accused the Congress of repeatedly questioning constitutional and independent institutions following electoral setbacks, citing its criticism of the ECI and electronic voting machines among other issues.
He said such allegations could create confusion among the public and urged people in Meghalaya not to be influenced by what he described as “malicious propaganda”.
