New Delhi, July 12 (UNI) In an effort to counter what it called as “disinformation and distortion” by the BJP regarding the Supreme Court order on the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar, the Congress today said it was satisfied with the ruling, noting that the court had directed the Election Commission of India (ECI) to accept the Aadhaar card, voter card and ration card as valid proof of identity.
Moreover, the party clarified that it “never pressed” for the stay of the SIR.
Addressing a press conference at the AICC headquarters here, senior party leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi said that the court had validated the Aadhar card, voter identity card and ration card as the proof of identity which roughly covers 90 percent of the people who could be affected by the SIR condition of producing citizenship proof.
He claimed that the exercise could well disenfranchise about two crore voters out of around 4.9 crore voters registered after the year 2003, as they were being asked to furnish citizenship proof.
He said it was beyond the jurisdiction of the Election Commission of India to verify the citizenship of people.
Stating that since 2003 when the last special revision was done, ten elections have been held, he asked, “what was the hurry to carry out another revision just before the Bihar elections, which are just a few months away”.
He said the previous revision in 2003 was done one year before the Parliamentary elections and about two years before the Assembly elections.
The senior Congress leader maintained that this “exercise of the ECI will mainly affect the marginalised, poor, disadvantaged and the minority voters”.
He said that, most of the labour class during the months of July and August remains away in different parts of the country for paddy sowing. Then, he added, there is an imminent threat of floods. He said, it will be practically impossible for these sections of people to produce the proof of residence like birth certificates of their parents in such a short span of time.
Asserting that the Aadhaar card is an important proof of identity, he said, “India lives on Aadhaar, from rations to rail, but for elections, it’s suddenly a fairy tale? You amended the law to embrace Aadhaar, then kicked it out from the main bazaar”.
