SC order on SIR exposed BJP its nefarious design to disenfranchise people claims Tejashwi

    Patna, Aug 14 (PTI) RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav on Thursday claimed that the Supreme Court order directing the ECI to publish details of 65 lakh deleted names from the voters list in Bihar exposed the BJP, its allies and their nefarious design to disenfranchise people.
    The order is a victory of the fight to save the Constitution, democracy, the unity and struggle of opposition parties, and the solidarity of the people of Bihar, he said.
    
    “Today's interim order of the SC over SIR in Bihar has exposed the BJP, its allies, and their nefarious design to disenfranchise people. Our fight will continue, and we will keep an eye on officials involved in the SIR exercise,” Yadav, the leader of the opposition in the state assembly, told reporters here.
    Earlier in the day, the Supreme Court directed the Election Commission of India (ECI) to publish details of 65 lakh deleted names from the voters' list with reasons of non-inclusion to enhance transparency in Bihar's special intensive revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls.
    A bench of Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi passed the order while hearing pleas challenging the June 24 ECI decision to conduct the SIR of the electoral rolls in Bihar.
    “All opposition parties fought for justice regarding the SIR in Parliament, legislative assembly, legislative council, and from the streets to the Supreme Court. The demands we consistently raised have now been endorsed by the SC. This decision of the SC will strengthen democracy and the Constitution,” Yadav said.
    Additionally, information related to the over 65 lakh voters, whose names were removed, will now be provided booth-wise by the ECI, including data about deceased voters, relocated individuals, and those whose names were mistakenly added or deleted in the “traceless” categories, Yadav said.
    He stated that after the ECI’s decision to conduct the SIR, the matter was first raised on June 27 and letters were written to leaders of all political parties, excluding the BJP, he said alleging that the saffron party has never had faith in democracy or democratic processes.
    The former deputy chief minister said, “The interim order has also exposed the dishonesty, fraud, and concealment of the ECI. The truth is now out about how the Commission was functioning. We are keeping a close watch on the activities of the ECI officials, and will continue to expose such wrongdoing”.
    He claimed that his party has become high-tech now.
    Yadav thanked INDIA bloc leaders such as Rahul Gandhi, Mallikarjun Kharge, Mamata Banerjee, Hemant Soren, Sharad Pawar, Akhilesh Yadav, M K Stalin, M A Baby and Uddhav Thackeray for unitedly opposing the special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in the state.
    People know how the ECI remained silent when it was revealed that Bihar's Deputy CM Vijay Sinha, NDA MP Veena Devi, JD(U) MLC Dinesh Singh, the Mayor of Muzaffarpur, and other BJP leaders have “multiple voter ID cards”, the RJD leader asserted.
    “I was ridiculed and they (NDA) abused me for my stand. But the EC remained a mute spectator; Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar did not utter a word. I will not allow NDA leaders to succeed in their design to disenfranchise voters in Bihar,” he said.
    Apparently referring to himself, Yadav mentioned the proverb, ‘Ek Bihari, Sab Par Bhari’ (One Bihari surpasses all others).
    “The NDA will suffer a humiliating defeat in the upcoming elections because it used the EC for political gains and to harass the people of Bihar. But the people, through their unity, have made it clear that they are determined to protect democracy,” he said.
    The RJD leader asserted that the “ploy to weaken democracy” was exposed when deceased voters appeared before the SC during a hearing on SIR to prove they were alive.
    He also claimed that planted news items were run using anonymous sources, branding people as infiltrators, and personal attacks were carried out during media trials.
    “Once the booth-wise list is made public, the full truth will come out. The politics of branding people as infiltrators by Union Home Minister Amit Shah has been exposed too,” Yadav said.
    The EC in its affidavit did not mention a single infiltrator, he said alleging that Gujarat voters are being registered in Bihar.
    He said that BJP's Bihar in-charge Bhikhubhai Dalsaniya, a resident of Gujarat, has become a voter in Patna even though he had voted in Gandhinagar in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
    Yadav said tha from August 17, Rahul Gandhi and all INDIA bloc leaders will launch “Voter Rights Yatra’ from Rohtas to raise awareness and tell people the truth.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)