New Delhi | Former chief election commissioner S Y Quraishi has hit out at the Election Commission over the ongoing SIR exercise, saying the process is focussed more on "exclusion" and has "played havoc with democracy" with free and fair elections having been "disturbed".
The emphasis in the ongoing process of Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls is on how many to exclude as if the Election Commission (EC) would get good marks for "throwing out" as many as it can, Quraishi said in an exclusive interview with PTI Videos ahead of the launch of his new book "India and I: A Hundred Memories, Not a Memoir".
The book, published by Hachette India, throws light on 100 episodes from Quraishi's life.
Quraishi told PTI that being registered as a voter is a constitutional right but a situation is being created that it is a favour granted to people by the EC.
The ongoing process of SIR is "unfair" because of the way this is being done, he said.
The process is focusing more on "exclusion", Quraishi said.
"How many people can you throw out of the electoral roll, that seems to be the focus," he said.
"Whereas in our time it was a very clear policy - our instruction to the polling staff used to be that if somebody comes introducing himself or herself and there was some minor error in the spelling, age or address or something, but you know that the person is the right person, ignore all mistakes. So that no voter is excluded," he asserted.
Here the emphasis is on how many to exclude as if they would get good marks for "throwing out" as many as they can and crores have been "thrown out", Quraishi said, slamming the EC.
"It has really played havoc with democracy, free and fair elections have been disturbed and that is something the nation should be concerned about and it is, which is why this controversy is there," Quraishi, who was the chief election commissioner (CEC) from July 30, 2010 till June 10, 2012, said.
"We were not fools. We were also purifying the electoral roll as per our constitutional mandate and were doing it every year. In 2002-2003, in Bihar, after the last intensive revision, the decision was taken that the intensive revision is no longer necessary because the rolls have been computerised.
"Now if your name is there and 99 per cent names are already there and then I go to a home and start finding from scratch who lived in that house, that is foolish," he said.
Therefore, Quraishi said the decision was taken that there will only be a summary revision.
It means officials go to a person's house, show the electoral roll, show the voters' names, ages and if everything is fine they move on to the next house, he said.
"If not, if some voter has been added, the BLO will give you a form, form six, fill up the form and within seven days it will get added. Or if you need to delete somebody who has moved or somebody has died, you will fill form seven," he said.
All this was all done on the spot, with the result that 99% roll had become perfect as a result of the annual exercise, Quraishi pointed out.
"The same BLO who is coming to your house now creating difficulties for you, used to come and just check with you. And if the idea was to find foreigners, it was very easy, just add one more question to BLO's list of questions. Ask the neighbour," he said.
The Bihar SIR exercise started in the name of finding illegal immigrants and about eight crore people were made to run around but how many foreigners were found, he asked.
"Till today, the Election Commission has not told us the figure. Why? Child's play? Their discretion? The nation wants to know, we want to know, everybody wants to know, please tell us how many foreigners you found," Quraishi said.
"From the media we hear that 500 foreigners were found of which 150 were Bangladeshi and 350 were Nepali Hindu women who had come by marriage to Bihar. Now to find 150 Bangladeshis, you made eight crore people run around and in the process deleted lakhs and lakhs of voters. So what purpose have you achieved? Is that fair? Absolutely not," he asserted.
On the UN Special Rapporteurs' criticism of the SIR, Quraishi said it was unfortunate because nobody from outside the country should be telling us how to conduct elections.
"And it is a very sad situation that we have come to such a path that some foreign group has written to us, it should not have happened. But at the same time, we should not just dismiss it as our domestic matter, internal matter, it is a serious matter, investigate and answer," he said.
Quraishi said that with this becoming international news, if India just keeps quiet, the suspicion will get confirmed.
"You have to give a convincing answer to the whole world because people around the world would be waiting for an answer," he said.
On the EC making it mandatory to attach SIR details of parents for new voters filling Form 6 for inclusion in the electoral rolls, Quraishi said it is a continuation of the exercise to make life "difficult and miserable" for the voters.
"If you read Article 326, it says subject to certain limitations, everybody shall be registered as a voter," he said.
Being registered as a voter is a person's constitutional right.
"Instead of that, a situation is being created that it is a favour granted to you by the Election Commission," Quraishi said.
The EC has rolled out phase 3 of the SIR of electoral rolls in 16 states and three Union territories involving 36.73 crore voters in a phased manner.
The states and Union territories where the SIR is being carried out are Delhi, Odisha, Mizoram, Sikkim, Manipur, Uttarakhand, Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Haryana, Chandigarh, Telangana, Punjab, Karnataka, Meghalaya, Maharashtra, Jharkhand, Nagaland, Tripura, Dadar and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu.
Punjab, Jharkhand, Karnataka and Telangana are opposition-ruled among the states where the SIR exercise is being held.
The SIR has already been conducted in Bihar, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Puducherry, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Lakshadweep.
Praising former CEC T N Seshan, Quraishi said he did revolutionary work because that was the time when the EC was not even recognized.
It was considered just another department, probably of the law ministry that is what the public perception was, he said.
Asked if India needs a T N Seshan now, Quraishi said he put the fear of God and fear of EC in the minds of the politicians.
"He was really the need of the time. I am not sure whether he can get away with some of the things which he did then. For instance, he used to say that he eats politicians for breakfast. I don't know whether today any CEC, including Mr. Seshan, will like to say that," he said.
"But we do need... A very fair and impartial working and an even-handed working of the Election Commission which is visible to the people," he added.
New Delhi | The Election Commission on Wednesday extended the schedule for the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in three states and Delhi.
In a letter to the chief electoral officer of Delhi, the poll authority said the draft electoral rolls will now be published on August 17 instead of August 5.
Similarly, the house-to-house visits which were scheduled till July 29 will now continue till August 8.
Similarly, in Punjab, the house-to-house visits by booth level officers (BLOs) will continue till August 3.
Earlier, the house-to-house visits were to conclude on July 24. The draft electoral rolls in the state will now be published on August 13 in place of July 31. The final rolls will come out on October 12 in place of October 10.
In Telangana, the draft rolls will be published on August 10 while the final rolls will be published on October 12.
In Karnataka, the house-to-house visits by the BLOs will continue till August 8 in place of July 29. Draft rolls in the state will be published on August 17 in place of August 5.
The final electoral rolls in the southern state were to be published on October 7 but according to the revised schedule, they will be published on October 19.
On Tuesday, EC extended the SIR schedule for Haryana and Andhra Pradesh.
Delhi and the three states besides Haryana and Andhra Pradesh are part of Phase 3 of the SIR which was rolled out on May 14.
Once Phase 3 is completed, the entire country, except for Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh, will be covered under the SIR rollout.
Due to a variety of reasons, the SIR in the previous phase has also seen frequent tweaking in schedules.
