Patna, Jun 26 (PTI) CPI(ML) Liberation general secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya has written to the Election Commission urging that the proposed "special intensive revision of electoral rolls in Bihar" be put on hold, the party said on Thursday.
According to a statement issued by the party, the Left leader has termed the exercise as "impracticable" in the state where assembly elections are expected to be announced in a couple of months from now.
In his letter, Bhattacharya has voiced apprehensions that the proposed revision in electoral rolls in Bihar would meet a fate similar to the National Register for Citizens (NRC) in Assam where "six years were spent on the exercise, still, the list that got prepared was not accepted by the state government".
The CPI(ML) leader also pointed out that compared with NRC in Assam which involved "only 3.3 crore people", the proposed exercise in Bihar aims at covering "a staggering eight crore voters.
"The situation in Bihar appears more complicated in view of the fact that the month of July is monsoon season during which a large number of people remain busy with agricultural work. Moreover, many people live outside the state to eke out a living", the statement quoted Bhattacharya as having said in his letter to the EC.
The Left leader said under the circumstances, many voters might not be able to furnish requisite documents before the poll officials and, therefore, the exercise could result in "massive chaos and errors in entries and wrongful deletions on a large scale".
"It is therefore requested that the impracticable exercise be put on hold. We hope that in the 75th year of Independence, people will not be deprived of their right to vote", added Bhattacharya.