'Fake voters added, eligible ones removed from Bihar voters list', Udit Raj courts controversy

New Delhi, Aug 6 (IANS) Congress leader Udit Raj on Wednesday questioned the sanctity of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) drive in Bihar and termed the voter verification process an eyewash, intended to benefit a certain party.

Udit Raj levelled startling allegations at the poll panel and alleged that fake voters were added while genuine and eligible voters were dropped from the newly prepared draft rolls. He said that this was being done to hurt and harm the prospects of the Opposition parties.

The Congress leader made the bizarre claim while speaking to IANS, but failed to corroborate his statement with any facts or evidence.

He claimed that the recent SIR drive in Bihar was a skewed exercise to create ‘fake supporters’ of the ruling dispensation and claimed that it was marked by a slew of irregularities, which included the addition of dead people in the voters' list while striking off names of eligible voters to put the BJP in an 'advantageous' position.

"Eligible voters have been removed from the voter list and fake voters have been added, just like what happened in Maharashtra and Delhi,” he said.

He further claimed that voters from the Muslim community and Other Backward Classes, who don’t vote for the BJP, have been removed from the voters' list.

His bizarre charges against the poll panel didn’t stop here as he went to claim, “dead people have been made voters, while living ones are shown as dead.”

He accused the Election Commission of functioning as a ‘unit of the BJP’ and described the voter verification drive in Bihar as dishonest and corrupt.

The Congress leader’s controversial claim comes despite the poll panel setting the records straight on electoral rolls revision and sharing details of the process in the public domain, regularly.

The ECI has concluded the enumeration phase of the SIR from June 24 to July 25. More than 7.24 crore electors -- out of a total of 7.89 crore -- submitted their enumeration forms during the exercise.

It published the draft electoral rolls on August 1 and has given a one-month window for people and parties to file complaints and grievances regarding inclusion or exclusion from the draft electoral list.

--IANS

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