Lok Sabha debate: Congress's Tewari calls SIR ‘illegal’, demands return to ballots

Initiating a debate on the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls under the broader topic of electoral reforms in the Lok Sabha, the Congress on Tuesday (December 9) questioned the constitutional basis of the drive, with party MP Manish Tewari describing it as “illegal”.

He argued that, contrary to the Election Commission’s (EC) claim that SIR is allowed as per the Representation of the People’s Act, the Act allows special revision only for "any constituency" and not "every constituency".

'EC needs to cite reason for SIR'

Elaborating further, Tewari said that even in the case of conducting SIR in a particular constituency, the EC has to cite a reason for the exercise.

“There is no provision for SIR in the RP Act or the Constitution. Special Revision provision was provided only to correct anomalies in the voter list in specific constituencies by providing reasons in writing,” he said.

Also Read: EC to SC: Scrapped ‘ineffective' deduplication software, 'manual search superior'

“I want to ask the government: where those constituency-wise reasons in writing for conducting the SIR are? The EC must be asked to disclose the constituency-wise reasons for conducting SIR across Bihar, across Tamil Nadu, across Kerala, across Bengal... It is unfortunate that even the court has not looked into this aspect of the law,” he added.

Demands for return to ballots

The Congress MP further said there are only two ways of restoring faith in the electoral process. Either 100 per cent VVPAT slips should be counted, or the country should revert to ballot papers, he said.

Also Read: What nation wants to know as govt, Opposition debate electoral reforms

“I have a simple solution to test the credibility of the electoral process. There are five states due for polls. Conduct polls through paper ballots there and see what the result is. Whatever it is we will all accept,” he added.

Tewari asked why the EC was not providing a machine-readable list to political parties. “If you are doing the SIR, even though I am convinced it is an illegal exercise, I want to ask: why you are so against providing a machine-readable list to political parties?” he said.

Also Read: Bengal SIR: BJP does volte-face, alleges irregularities, seeks probe

“You might say SIR was done earlier, too. My answer is straight—multiple wrongs don't make a right. Just because an earlier government did something illegally doesn't mean we should follow that precedent,” he added.

'Biggest electoral reform'

The biggest electoral reform in India in the past 75 years has been the one made by Rajiv Gandhi when his government brought the voting age down from 21 to 18 years, said Tewari.

"Dr Ambedkar and the Constitution framers in the Constituent Assembly had envisioned a permanent and independent Election Commission. This was also keeping in mind that the country will, over time, see elections happen round the year in some or other part of the country. This is important to note because of 2 things. First the context of the ongoing debate on One Nation, One Election and second on the falling credibility of the Election Commission," he said.

"The process of appointing CEC, EC needs to change. The panel must include the LoP of Rajya Sabha and the CJI to ensure fair political representation instead one skewed in government's favour.

"I have to say with great disappointment that the SIR underway across the country today is being done illegally. The RP Act, as per EC, allows SIR but fact is that the RP Act allows special revision only for 'any constituency' and not 'every constituency', and that too after citing reasons for the exercise. There is no provision for SIR in the RP Act or the Constitution. Special Revision provision was provided only to correct anomalies in voter list in specific constituencies by providing reasons in writing," he said.

Tewari further raised the issue of scheme funds disbursal close to elections. "What is this practice of transferring money to accounts of people just when elections are round the corner? I propose that a Constitution Amendment should be made to ensure that if any government that has a debt to GDP ratio higher than 10 per cent, it cannot do any money transfers. If this [current] practice is allowed to continue, no government will ever change while the debts of states will continue to rise. What kind of a country are we making? Is government formation an end in itself?" he asked.

Akhilesh backs Congress

Agreeing with the Congress, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav said, “I completely agree with the Congress that we need to change the way Election Commissioners are appointed.”

“I also agree with the Congress that elections have to be conducted by ballot papers. If developed countries that are far ahead of us in technology are not willing to accept EVM, be it Germany or US or Japan, then why are we stuck on EVMs. Why are we not reverting to ballots?” added Yadav.

'SIR endorsement from Bihar'

Sanjay Jaiswal of the BJP initiated the discussion from the Treasury side. "The biggest endorsement of SIR has been the result of Bihar assembly polls," he said.

"Those talking of vote chori should know that the biggest examples of vote chori were in 1947 when the entire CWC wanted Sardar Patel to be made Prime Minister but Nehru stole the mandate, in 1975 Indira Gandhi did vote chori through Emergency, in 1987 Rajiv and Farooq did vote chori in Jamme and Kashmir and then in 1991 when Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated, the entire election was stalled and Rajiv Gandhi's ashes were taken around India for 21 days before elections were restored; that was vote chori," he said.