SIR aims to overthrow democratic system, must be rolled back
N S Sajith
The special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in 12 states and Union territories, announced by the Election Commission on October 27, is intended to overthrow the country's democratic system, the CPI(M) Kerala state secretariat has said and demanded that the central government roll back the move. The commission has hastily started efforts to expand the Bihar-model SIR across the country, including Kerala.
Steps have already been initiated to implement SIR in Kerala. As part of this, the current electoral roll has been frozen. The plan is to collect data from November 4 to December 4 and publish the draft electoral roll on December 9.
The Election Commission rejected the request to consider the matter after the local body elections. The commission has initiated a completely anti-democratic move. “The notification hasn't been issued yet,” the commission said when asked about the electoral roll for the local body elections in Kerala is a major cause for concern.
The commission's move disregards the scientifically prepared list of Kerala. Kerala is included in the second phase of implementing the SIR. The existing voters list was frozen from midnight on Monday. The intense revision is based on the voter lists prepared between 2002 and 2004.
The final verdict has not yet come on the petition filed against the SIR in the Supreme Court. According to the Representation of the People Act, 1950, and the Voter Registration Rules, 1960, the current electoral roll should be the basic document for revision. However, by basing the revision on the old list, more than 50 lakh voters in Kerala could be excluded from the roll. It is clear that removing the names of migrants and foreigners, along with the deceased and those with duplicate votes, is an attempt to implement the national register of citizens, the Kerala state secretariat said in a statement. (END)
