Lok Sabha today took up discussion on election reforms. Intervening in the discussion, Law and Justice Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal said, Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of Electoral rolls were conducted several times during the Congress regime, but now the opposition is raising questions over the exercise. He lauded the country’s voting structure saying that everyone got equal voting rights since Independence. He said, Narendra Modi government passed the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam which seeks to reserve one-third of the total number of seats for women in Lok Sabha, State Legislative Assemblies and Delhi Assembly. Mr Meghwal said elections are not merely a political exercise, but a festival of democracy celebrated by crores of people who participate in it. He said the election process in the country was being carried out as per the principles laid down by Dr BR Ambedkar.
Participating in the discussion, Nishikant Dubey of BJP said, BJP does the politics of national interest, rather than vote bank politics. He accused the opposition parties for doing politics on Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. He alleged that Congress, Trinamool Congress and Jharkhand Mukti Morcha win due to the votes of infiltrators that is why they are opposing the SIR. He also accused the Congress for appointing the Chief Election Commissioners for their vested interest during their tenure.
Speaking on the election reforms, Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi raised the issue of duplicate voters in the electoral rolls. He questioned the Election Commission on the SIR in Bihar, alleging that one lakh 20 thousand duplicate photos exist in the voting list. On the electoral reform, Mr. Gandhi said, reform requires machine-readable voter lists for all parties a month before polling, and demanded withdrawal of the law that permits destruction of CCTV footage.
Earlier, initiating the discussion on election reforms in the Lok Sabha, Manish Tewari of Congress said, the Election Commission should give the reasons for carrying out the SIR. He said, SIR is ongoing in many states in the country, but the Election Commission has no legal justification to hold SIR. Mr Tewari also suggested that either VVPAT should be counted in full or the country should revert to paper ballots. Sanjay Jaiswal of BJP said that the opposition is raising the issue of SIR to distract people from their heavy losses in the recently concluded Bihar elections. He accused the Congress for vote chori during their government.
Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav said that the electoral reforms are only possible if the Election Commission functions in an unbiased manner. He suggested moving back to ballot papers for voting. Mr Yadav wondered if more technologically advanced nations like Germany and the United States conduct voting through ballot paper then why India is using EVMs. Kalyan Banerjee of Trinamool Congress alleged that many BLOs in different parts of the country have lost their lives due to the SIR work pressure. Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Anil Desai said that the anti-defection law has become toothless. He said EVMs should be replaced by ballot papers. NCP (SCP) leader Supriya Sule spoke about violence and corruption during the elections. RJD MP Abhay Kumar Sinha questioned the conduct of elections in Bihar. He demanded that there should be independent verification of VVPATs. Amra Ram of CPI (M) demanded impartial reforms in the election commission, restriction on corporate funding to political parties and government funding for political parties to fight polls.
Union Minister and JD (U) leader Rajiv Ranjan (Lalan) Singh said the Election Commission is undertaking the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls and it is doing the right thing. He said, the world has seen that elections in India are conducted in an impartial manner. He took a dig at the opposition saying that if they win in the election then they have no issue with the EVM, but when they lose, they see problems in EVMs. Lavu Shri Krishna Devarayalu of TDP also criticized the opposition for raising questions on the Election Commission. He suggested the adoption of a single unified electoral roll for national, state and local body elections. Arun Bharti of Lok Janshakti Party (Ramvilas) reminded opposition of booth capturing during 1980s and 1990s. He said, SIR is conducted to clean electoral rolls and it is bringing out the real power of politics.
Shrikant Shinde of Shiv Sena said, the world recognizes India as a mother of democracy due to its transparent elections. He suggested a single electoral roll for all elections.
BJP MP PP Chaudhary hit out at opposition claiming that they did not have any issue with EVMs before 2014 when they were in power. He alleged that opposition started having issues with EVMs only after facing defeat in elections.
Lok Sabha Speaker said that the members who did not get the opportunity to participate in the debate today will get their chance tomorrow. The Speaker adjourned the House for the day.
