‘Only motive of SR in Assam is to include eligible, exclude ineligible voters’: CEC

Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar on February 18 said the Special Revision (SR) of electoral rolls in Assam was conducted solely to ensure that all eligible voters are included and ineligible names are removed.

Addressing a press conference at the end of a three-day visit to review poll preparedness in the state, Kumar was responding to a question from India Today NE on concerns that while the stated aim of the SR was to remove foreigners from the voter list in the interest of national security, various other motives had been attributed to the process.

Responding to the question, the CEC said, “According to the law, it is mandatory that electoral roll revisions are carried out before elections. SIR was conducted in 12 states, while SR was held in Assam,” he said. He added that Assam is the only state where the National Register of Citizens (NRC) process is nearly complete, necessitating a Special Revision instead of a Special Intensive Revision (SIR).

 

The CEC said the revision exercise in Assam was largely successful, with only around 500 appeals filed across districts seeking inclusion of names or exclusion of others from the electoral rolls.

Responding to a query on whether the upcoming Assembly elections could be held before the Rongali Bihu festival beginning April 13, Kumar said Bihu is an important festival in Assam and that all proposals received from stakeholders during the review meetings would be considered while finalising the poll schedule.

The full bench of the Election Commission of India, comprising the CEC and Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi, was in Assam to assess preparedness for the forthcoming Assembly elections.