Opposition parties, including the Congress, have been staging continuous protests, alleging irregularities in the special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls carried out as a continuous process by the Election Commission of India. The Congress, which is questioning the SIR, had, when it was in power at the Centre, justified the deletion of the names of 13.58 lakh voters during the SIR exercise conducted in the Delhi Union Territory in 2013.
During Question Hour in the Rajya Sabha on August 23, 2013, chaired by its Chairman Hamid Ansari, members raised the issue of the 'deletion of the names of 13.58 lakh voters from the electoral roll during the Delhi SIR'.
Then Union Law and Justice Minister Kapil Sibal, who belonged to the Congress party, responded in detail.
'Dinamani' obtained information from the parliamentary records about those debate proceedings, which help recall history. We present them here in summary.
Kapil Sibal: After conducting a house-to-house survey and following the proper legal procedures, 13.58 lakh voters were removed from the electoral roll. On the Election Commission’s orders, a house-to-house survey was conducted in July-August 2012 to identify voters who had migrated, died, or were registered twice (those whose names appeared in more than one constituency).
Based on the house-to-house survey conducted by booth-level officers, 13,38,970 were found to have migrated, 1,36,054 were found to be deceased, and 36,205 were found to be registered twice.
Notices were sent to all 15,58,229 voters identified in the house-to-house survey under Section 22 of the Representation of the People Act, 1950, giving them a proper opportunity to represent against the deletion of their names from the electoral roll. The list of such identified persons was also published on the Delhi Chief Electoral Officer’s website, www.ceodelhi.nic.in, for public information. Information about the deletion of names from the electoral roll was also conveyed to the public through the print media.
The list containing the names of those to be removed, based on the house-to-house survey conducted, was shared with all recognized national political parties. Verification was carried out at various levels (at the District Election Officer level, the SDM (Election) level, and the Chief Electoral Officer’s office (Headquarters) level) to ensure that the Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) had followed due procedures and that the concerned voters had been given proper opportunities before removal.
After it was noted that voters had been removed from the electoral roll, the concerned electoral registration officers informed all voters whose names had been deleted once again. They also informed them that their names had been removed from the electoral roll and that, if they had any objections to this decision, they could file an appeal / representation with the District Election Officer under Rule 23 of the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960.
Of the total 15,58,229 voters who received notices for the reasons mentioned above, the names of 1,99,989 voters were not deleted. In other words, those names were retained because they either appeared in person or through representatives before the EROs, or because the EROs were satisfied that their names were not eligible for deletion.
Sabir Ali (Janata Dal United): I would like to know what action the government has taken for those whose names were deleted from the voter list, and for the assembly constituencies where the names of more than 10,000 voters were deleted.
Kapil Sibal: This action is being taken strictly in accordance with the specific provisions of Section 22 and Section 24 of the Representation of the People Act. Under Section 22 of that Act, a person’s name can be removed only after notice has been served. As per the law, there is a very detailed procedure involved. At the end of it, when the name is removed, due opportunity is provided. Public notices are issued, advertisements are published in newspapers, and it is uploaded on the website. Moreover, all the names to be removed are also provided to all political parties.
Therefore, every political party has the names of the constituencies that can be removed. Political parties are also given an opportunity. They are also given a chance to be heard. The government does not carry out this entire process. In fact, the government has no connection with this at all.
This is an action carried out by the Election Commission. If anyone has any grievances, the right to appeal has been provided. That right of appeal is provided under Section 24 of the law.
Accordingly, any order of the Electoral Registration Officer under Section 22 may be appealed to the District Magistrate or Additional District Magistrate or Executive Magistrate or the District Collector within the prescribed time and in the proper manner.
Therefore, in this matter, there is a procedure for issuing notices, an appellate remedy is available, and action is taken after publishing information on the website. These are the detailed procedures followed by the Election Commission. If there are any grievances, one may approach the Election Commission and inform them that these names have been wrongly deleted.
The member mentioned only one constituency while speaking. But I am looking at the constituencies in Delhi. I see that in almost all constituencies, a similar number of names have been removed.
For example, in North West Delhi the total is 1,47,000; in North East, 1,63,000; in South, 1,59,000; in Central, 1,31,000; in South West, 1,23,000; in East, 1,62,000; in West, 1,53,000; in North again, 1,31,000; and in New Delhi, 1,85,000. It is in New Delhi alone that, out of the 15 lakh names requested for deletion, a total of 13 lakh names have been removed.
Sabir Ali: I have the statistics for 70 constituencies. In each of them, the margin of defeat is like the difference between heaven and earth. The minister is talking about procedure.
A poor man cannot go to court and appear for his one vote, nor can he argue through a lawyer; he will not have that much strength. So, will the government follow any rule or method to work in coordination with the Election Commission?
Kapil Sibal: I would like to point out in the House that it is completely improper for the Central Government to begin working together with the Election Commission on who is a voter and who is not. In fact, this amounts to government interference in an institution that has been granted independence under the Constitution. I think we should not even try to do that.
However, I would like to clarify that name deletions fall under three categories. For example, if a person changes their residence from one legislative assembly constituency to another, their name will be removed. A person may have a duplicate entry. They may have changed their residence, but their name will still remain on the voter list of the old constituency. Their name will also be registered in the new constituency. Therefore, one of them must be canceled. The third case is if the person has died, in which case the name will naturally be removed.
Therefore, if there is any individual defect, the affected persons should approach the Election Commission and ask the member to point out the deficiency. Otherwise, they also have the right to go to the Electoral Registration Officer and request, “Register us.” Even if their names have been removed, that will not prevent them from being registered. They can go to the Electoral Registration Officer and request registration.
From July 5 to August 2, 6,44,105 members have requested that their names be added to the voter list. The voter list is being updated.
It is a changing, continuous process. It is stopped on the first day of the year. Then, throughout the year, the voter list keeps changing. So, those whose names have been wrongly removed can go to the election registration officer and say, 'Please include us. This is our address. We live here. You have removed it by mistake.' Based on that, the changing list will be corrected.
Dharmendra Pradhan (BJP): At present, the provisional list of the 2011 census has been released. The voter list up to 2012 has also been released. Whether it is Delhi or any other part of the country, it is found that there is a 7 percent discrepancy between the census list and the voter list.
Secondly, information from the Election Commission shows that registration is still pending for about 50 percent of those between the ages of 18 and 24. On behalf of the Election Commission, as the Minister rightly said, there is still a rule that you can go and register your name yourself; will the Election Commission conduct a special mobile registration and enrollment drive to reduce this large gap?
Kapil Sibal: I have been assured that there are already rules under the law. If the member and the affected persons approach the Election Commission, I have no doubt that the Election Commission will devise ways to ensure that the dynamic list is updated as of January 1, 2014.
Shantaram Naik (Congress): Why has the Central Government not been able to convince the Election Commission that what it is doing is wrong?
Kapil Sibal: It is not the job of the Indian government to persuade the Election Commission. It is the Election Commission that decides that. I am very happy that the Rajya Sabha passed the resolution to ensure that names are included in the voter list.
Ram Gopal Yadav (Samajwadi Party): I would like to bring to the minister’s attention that last time, after the final voter list was released, during the election period in many places in Uttar Pradesh, when voters went to cast their votes, it was said that in the voter list held by the local official, the voter’s name had been struck off in red ink. In many places there has been widespread deletion of voters’ names in this way. Is there any solution to this?
Kapil Sibal: Sometimes, when a voter goes to cast a vote, they find that their name has been removed from the voter list. So I know it is a matter of great concern if the polling officer does not allow them to vote. It has even been found that many names have been removed altogether. This is indeed a problem. We need to solve it, and we are informing the Election Commission about this.
According to the data I have for Delhi right now, 99 percent of voters have photo ID cards. The voter list is backed by photo ID cards. If you have that, no one can tell you 'no'.
Naresh Agarwal (Samajwadi Party): Even then, they refuse to let them vote...
Ram Gopal Yadav: They say your name is not on the voter list...
Kapil Sibal: I agree too.
Satyavrat Chaturvedi (Congress): Even with an identity card, they do not allow us to vote.
Kapil Sibal: This is the issue we need to resolve... The commission must resolve that issue. I will certainly convey to the commission that this is the sentiment of the members.
- Our Special Correspondent