Though the election is crucial for both the NDA and the INDIA bloc, as it would set the political and electoral dynamics for the Assembly polls in five States next year, it is more crucial for the political survival of Narendra Modi and BJP. The leadership of INDIA bloc have in the beginning aggressively opposed the SIR, but after release of the final electoral list on September 30, they have been wearing a dejected look. Leaders of ‘mahagathbandhan’ and INDIA bloc had earlier hit the streets, alleging manipulations in the voter lists, but now they have come to nurse the view that BJP and its muscle power would create a massive law and order situation and not allow holding of peaceful elections.

Though SC at the last hearing had clarified that if it finds any illegality in methodology adopted by ECI at any stage of Bihar SIR, the entire exercise will be set aside, the opposition leaders are sceptical of actual interference of the Supreme Court in Intensive revision, which resulted in the deletion of 67 lakh voters. This has led to allegations of targeted disenfranchisement and is currently under judicial scrutiny. The final list has decreased about 47 lakh voters compared to the list prior to the revision.

Surprisingly the ECI has not put the reasons for deletion in public domain. It continues to be a mysterious act. It is intriguing how could 47 lakh voters, who were eligible to vote just three months ago, were excluded this time. ECI deleting the names of 68.5 lakh voters testifies that baring some stray cosmetic changes, it stuck to its position which it has been arguing before Supreme Court since June 24 this year.

The INDIA bloc leaders feel dreaded that SC may accept the CEC explanation. The CEC continues to stick to the issues which it had raised in the earlier hearings which incidentally were accepted by the SC. In spite of assuring the Supreme Court to maintain highest order of transparency and fairness, the ECI has not preferred to furnish the reasons for deleting the names of the 47 lakh voters from the final list. They are sure that ECI will use all resources to accomplish the task assigned by the centre for disenfranchising 68 lakh Dalit, proletariat and minorities, who are potent threat to NDA during elections.

As huge number of anomalies continue to afflict the final SIR list, it was expected that the opposition would make it a big issue. But nothing seems to be moving. The only exception of course has been the CPI(ML) general secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya. He said: the macro figures issued by the Election Commission of India on September 30 on the conclusion of Bihar Special Intensive Revision (SIR) conceal more than they reveal.”

He said;” We do not know what happened to the 3 lakh voters who had been sent notice to substantiate their documents. Did they not submit their Aadhaar cards? Did the EC accept Aadhaar as a stand-alone document after being explicitly asked by the Supreme Court? We do not know how many mischievously targeted deletion attempts could be foiled and how many succeeded in their deletion design! We do not know how many of the Form 6 entrants are actually new first-time voters and how many are old voters made new! We do not know how many of the 16 lakh addresses sheltering more than ten voters were actually verified.”

In 2024 Lok Sabha elections, around 7.8 crore voters had exercised their rights. But according to the voter list released on September 30, the number of voters has gone down and in assembly election only 7,41,92,357 would vote. The final tally declined even while the ECI claimed that it had added 21.53 new voters. ECI claimed more than 36,000 voters lodged claims to add their names, while 12.17 lakh voters requested removal. It is really a mystery how 21.53 lakh voters were added; who are they? Is ECI repeating Karnataka experiment?

This game of numbers make it explicit that BJP has succeeded in the mission to turn the list NDA friendly. Now it can be construed that the saffron ecosystem is ready to use extraneous ways to defeat the INDIA bloc at the assembly elections. It is unlikely that the next final Supreme Court hearing would bring about much qualitative change and seek a clarification from ECI as to why the names of huge number of voters were deleted.

The final list makes it amply clear that INDIA bloc’s effort to ensure that the rights to franchise is not denied to the Dalits, proletariats and minorities has also failed. The presiding officer would go by the documents and voters list, furnished by the ECI. No amount of booth level protest by the booth representatives of the INDIA bloc would make them listen to the voter’ argument.

An insight into the list makes it explicit that Muslims and Dalits have been worst victims of this manoeuvring of ECI. The CEC must not have acted whimsically if the Supreme Court had directed the ECI to substantiate its actions and claims through documents. It should have been directed by the apex court to maintain highest order of transparency and fairness. On June 24 itself the Supreme Court ought to have rejected the contention of the Election Commission that exercise had been necessitated for exclusion of “foreign illegal immigrants” in the electoral roll as this was beyond its constitutional rights.

ECI has released the list but has refrained from mentioning as to how many foreign illegal immigrants were found. Shockingly Supreme Court had agreed to the ECI clarification “If any eligible person still wishes to apply for inclusion of their name in [the] Electoral Roll, they can submit an application up to ten days before [the] last date for filing nominations for [the] election,” even after being aware that the persons excluded are Dalits, proletariats and poor Muslims, and it was not possible for them to get their names included.

Justice Surya Kant had earlier observed; “If we are satisfied there is some illegality, we can [still intervene]”. But the chances are bleak. The manner in which Gyanesh released the final list, reinforces the feeling that he is determined to have his way. The draft electoral rolls were published on August 1 and kept open for claims and objections until September 1. But even this longer period could not help ECI to rectify the mistakes and correct the list. (IPA Service)