New Delhi, Oct 27 (IANS) Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar on Monday shared a detailed blueprint of Phase II of the nationwide rollout of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR), an exercise for the verification of electoral rolls. However, he dodged a direct answer on the drive facing stiff opposition from political parties, with a couple of them resisting it tooth and nail.

CEC Gyanesh Kumar, replying to an IANS question on ‘politicisation’ of the voter verification drive in Bihar, said that the Election Commission doesn’t believe that political parties opposed the SIR in the state.

Referring to the CEC’s first press conference on the Bihar SIR in August this year, the IANS correspondent recalled the poll panel’s observations that political parties, the Mahagathbandhan in particular, opposed it in the state and asked whether they resorted to misleading the voters for electoral benefits.

The CEC was careful enough not to directly point fingers at any political party, including the Opposition, and rather tried to wash his hands of the controversy by claiming that the polling watchdog doesn’t comment on political statements.

Buttressing his claims, CEC Kumar said, “About 1.6 lakh Booth Level Agents (BLA) worked actively on the ground, alongside Booth Level Officers (BLAs) and voters. It was not just the BLAs alone, district presidents of political parties also actively contributed. Similarly, at the state level, all political parties coordinated with the CEOs and welcomed the process.”

Notably, the ‘purification’ of electoral rolls, months ahead of the Bihar Assembly elections witnessed a political furore in the state with the Congress-led Opposition launching a blistering attack on the EC, accusing it of acting as the ruling BJP’s ‘agent’ to twist the poll outcome.

The CEC, holding a presser in the midst of the SIR controversy and vote theft charge in August this year, had hit back at the detractors (Opposition) and accused them of derailing and vilifying the voter verification exercise for their own political interests.

Notably, after the EC launched SIR in Bihar, it witnessed fierce protests from the Opposition, as it mounted a strong campaign against it – claiming that it was nothing but an attempt by the poll panel to “steal votes” for the ruling party.

Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi and RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav also undertook a 16-day-long ‘Voter Adhikar Yatra’ in Bihar to sharpen the attack against the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in the poll-bound state.

–IANS

mr/rad