Congress accuses Election Commission of dropping 3.28 crore voters in SIR

Congress has confronted the Election Commission over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the state's voter list. Congress state president Harshvardhan Sapkal has raised serious questions about 3.28 crore voters whose names, he claims, are missing from the rolls. This figure and the conclusion behind it are Sapkal's own allegation.

A Congress delegation led by Sapkal met the state's chief electoral officer, S. Chockalingam. Sapkal said the delegation raised questions about changes to the voter list, the SIR process and the data on suspect voters. The delegation also asked exactly what changes had been made to the voter list and how the Commission held data on suspect voters.

According to Sapkal, the state had nearly 9.78 crore voters at the time of the assembly elections. He said a large number of voters are missing from the draft list after the SIR process. Election officials, however, said that after the SIR, Maharashtra's draft voter list records 7,71,65,562 voters, while 2,06,88,487 voters are not included in the draft list. Officials cited various reasons for this, including voters being absent, having migrated, having died, or being duplicate entries. Both Sapkal's claim about the excluded voters and the officials' explanation have thus come to light.

Against this backdrop, Sapkal demanded that the complete data on the 3.28 crore voters be made public. He also suggested that constituency-wise and booth-wise information be made available. Congress also objected to the deadline given for filing claims and objections, with Sapkal demanding an extension so that citizens get adequate time during the festival season. He said the extension was demanded because citizens are unable to find time to check their voter list entries during the festive period.

Besides the voter list issue, Sapkal also criticised the government over drought-like conditions in the state. He demanded that the government declare a blanket drought and give farmers compensation of one lakh rupees per hectare.

He also raised the issue of the BJP allegedly putting pressure on and blackmailing Rahul Bondre over speculation about his possible entry into the party. Sapkal also referred to the death of IIT Bombay student Sahil Wakode and demanded that the government respond on shortcomings in the education system.