By P. Sreekumaran
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Communist Party of India (Marxist) has hardened its stand on the Election Commission’s decision to conduct a Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in the State in the short run-up to the local bodies elections later this year and the Assembly polls nearly next year.
The CPI(M) State Secretariat said, in a strongly-worded statement, that the exercise will disenfranchise as many as 50 lakh voters in Kerala.
CPI(M) state secretary M. V. Govindan said the hasty decision is fundamentally flawed. In support of his argument, Govindan said that Kerala’s population had increased, in the past 23 years, by 1.57 crore. Similarly, the number of polling booths has also risen by 10,000.
Govindan accused the Election Commission of acting at the instance of the BJP. The move has made inclusion on the latest voters’ list impossibly difficult for a large section of the population. For instance, the EC, he contended, does not accept Kerala’s ration cards as a valid identity. Instead, it has asked the voters to produce a set of 12 difficult-to-get documents, including proof of parentage, nativity and domicile, to be enlisted as a voter. The EC has deliberately introduced extensive red tape, rendering the task of registration extremely difficult. It may be mentioned that, initially, it had refused to accept Aadhaar cards as proof of identity. It changed the stance only after being pulled up by the Supreme Court.
Govindan also said that Kerala and a few other States had challenged the SIR in the Supreme Court. Pending the judgment in the case, what was the tearing hurry for the EC to go ahead with the SIR? The EC has ignored the protests and is bent on going ahead with the exercise, risking contempt of court.
Even the State’s Chief Election Commission’s word of caution has been ignored by the EC. The exercise would stretch the State’s resources thin as it moves into the election mode, he added.
Govindan also saw the motive behind the idea. EC’s arbitrary decision ignoring the objection from various political parties and the non-BJP government–ruled States was aimed at implementing the “segregationist” National Citizens Register (NCR).
The NCR will prepare the ground for categorizing large sections of the people as illegals earmarked for deportation. Govindan also said that the NCR, a Sangh Parivar agenda, is loaded against the minorities, Dalits, tribals, backward classes, refugees, economically disadvantaged sections, and legal immigrants. It is also inextricably linked to the anti-Muslim Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA),” he claimed. The EC’s SIR in Bihar, he argued, had disenfranchised an estimated 65 lakh voters majority of whom were Muslims and members of the marginalized and economically disadvantaged sections.
The CPI(M) has also signalled its intent on holding a National Seminar on SIR in October, which will be attended by top politicians, jurists, writers, thinkers and intellectuals. The seminar will record its protest against the EC’s politically partisan efforts to undermine democracy and destroy the credibility of the elections.
In response to the request of Kerala’s political parties, State Chief Electoral Officer R. Kelkar had urged the Election Commission of India(ECI) to postpone the SIR until after the local bodies polls in 2025 and include the ration card as a valid identification document. (IPA Service)
