The discussion on Election Reforms has concluded in the Rajya Sabha today.

 

Praful Patel of NCP said, EVMs have been used in elections before, and there is no proof that it can be tampered with. He said the Election Commission issued an open challenge to prove how EVMs can be tampered with, but no one came up. Mr Patel said, the right to vote is the strength of the people, the country and of democracy. 

 

Derek O’Brien of TMC said the Home Minister had cited three D’s for the purpose of the electoral roll revisions: Detect, Delete and Deport. He alleged that the motive of the SIR is to divide, distract and defeat.

 

Leader of the House J P Nadda said, SIR is a Special Intensive Revision that falls within the constitutional powers of the Election Commission. He said it is the Commission’s duty to periodically purify and rectify the electoral rolls.

 

Mr Nadda said the Constitution also mandates that no eligible voter should be excluded from the list and that no ineligible voter should be included in the electoral rolls. He said constitutional bodies such as the Election Commission of India and the Supreme Court of India are the pillars of a country’s democracy.

 

Mr Nadda added that as these institutions grow stronger, the roots of democracy become deeper. Targeting Congress, He said, Congress’s campaign against SIR has fallen flat, and Bihar’s results have proven that. After Mr Nadda’s address, the discussion concluded.

 

Ramji of BSP, Priyanka Chaturvedi of SS(UBT), Harris Beeran of IUML, Swati Maliwal of AAP, and Upendra Kushwaha of RLM also participated in the discussion.