The list of voters in New India state has bad photos and dead

A few days ago, the India electoral commission published the update of electoral lists for the state of the Bihar, where the key elections are scheduled for November, after a one -month revision of the voters list.

But opposition parties and electoral charities say that the exercise has been rushed – and many Bihar voters told BBC that the draft roles had bad photos and include dead.

The special intensive revision – better known by its acronym SIR – took place from June 25 to July 26 and the Commission said that its officials had visited each of the 78.9 million voters listed by the State to verify their contact details. He said the last revision of this type was in 2003 and an update was necessary.

The new project rolls have 72.4 million names – 6.5 million less than before. The Commission indicates that the cuts include 2.2 million dead, 700,000 registered more than once and 3.6 million that have migrated from the state.

The corrections are open until September 1, with more than 165,000 requests received. A similar examination will be carried out nationally to check nearly a billion voters.

But the opposition parties accused the Commission of having abandoned many voters – in particular Muslims who make up a large part of the population of the population in four border districts – to help the Bharatiya Janata party of Prime Minister Narendra Modi (BJP) in the next elections of state.

The election organization and the BJP denied the allegations. In response to the BBC questions, the electoral commission shared its June 24 order on the conduct of the SIR and a press note of July 27 describing the efforts to ensure that no eligible voter was “left behind”.

“In addition, (the commission) does not take any responsibility for any other disinformation or underestimated allegations which take place by certain acquired interests,” he added in the response.

The Commission has not published the list of deleted names or received a break according to religion, it is therefore not possible to verify the concerns of the opposition.

An examination of the Hindustan Times newspaper revealed high suppressions of voters in Kishanganj, a district with the largest part of Muslims in Bihar, but not in other districts dominated by Muslims.

Parliament has faced repeated adjournment, because opposition deputies require a debate on what they call a threat to democracy. Outside, they chanted “Down Down Modi”, “Bring back sir back” and “stop voting”. The Supreme Court also examines this decision after the watchdog ADR has questioned its calendar.

“It comes only three months before the assembly elections and there was not enough time for the exercise,” Jagdeep Chhokar of Adr, BBC told.

“As soil reports have shown, there were irregularities during the exercise and the data collection process was massively defective,” he added.

The ADR has argued before the court that the exercise “will favor millions of authentic voters” in a state which is one of the poorest in India and which houses a large number of marginalized communities “.

He says that the SIR moves the burden on people to prove their citizenship, often demanding their own documents and their parents in a short deadline – an impossible task for millions of poor migrant workers.

While the list project was being published, we went to Patna and villages nearby to hear what voters think of Sir.

In the village of Danara, which houses the poorest of the poor known as Mahadalits, most residents work in high caste farms or are unemployed.

The houses collapse, the open drains border the narrow tracks and a stagnant puddle near the local temple transformed Safe.

Most of the residents had little or not about the idea of SIR or its impact, and many did not know if the officials had even visited their homes.

But they deeply appreciate their vote. “Losing it would be devastating,” said Rekha Devi. “It will push us further into poverty.”

In the village of Kharika, many men said they had heard of Sir and subject to forms, spending 300 rupees (£ 3.42; £ 2.55) to take new photos. But after the release of the recovery rolls, the farmer and the retired teacher, Tarkeshwar Singh, called him “a disorder”. He shared pages showing the details of his family – highlighting the errors, including the bad photo next to his name.

“I have no idea what photo it is,” he said, adding that his wife Suryakala Devi and his son Rajeev also have bad photos. “But the worst is the case for my other son Ajeev – he has a photo of an unknown woman.”

Mr. Singh continues by listing other anomalies – in the document of his daughter -in -law Juhi Kumari, he is appointed husband in the place of his son. Another daughter -in -law, Sangeeta Singh, is listed twice from the same address – only one in her photo and her correct date of birth.

Many of his relatives and neighbors, he says, have similar complaints. He underlines the name of a deceased cousin over five years ago but which is still on the list – and at least two names which appear twice.

“There was obviously no verification. The list has death and duplicates and many that have not even completed the form. This is improper use of government machines and billions of rupees that have been spent for this exercise.”

Mr. Chhokar de l’ADR says they will raise these questions before the Supreme Court this week. In July, the court declared that there was the exercise remaining if the petitioners produce 15 real missing voters of the lists project.

“But how can we do this since the commission has not provided a list of the 6.5 million names that have been deleted?” he asks.

Mr. Chhokar says that a judge on the bench of two judges suggested depositing the exercise of the upcoming elections to allow more time for an appropriate examination.

“I will be happy with this point to remember,” he said.

The Sir and Draft rolls divided the Bihar parties: the opposition Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) questions them, while the decision Janata Dal (United) – BJP Alliance supports them.

“The complexity of this revision has left many people combined,” said Shivanand Tiwari, secretary general of the RJD.

Tiwari questions the “assertions of the electoral commission that 98.3% of voters have completed their forms” and said “in most villages, our voters and workers say that the Block level officer (Blo) – generally a local teacher appointed by the Commission to download forms”. (The Commission said that the BLO worked “in a very responsible manner”.)

Tiwari alleges that the “commission is a supporter and it is the manipulation of the elections”.

“We believe that the target is border areas where many Muslims live that never vote for the BJP,” he said.

The BJP and the JD (U) rejected criticism, saying “it is entirely political”.

“Only Indian citizens have the right to vote and we think that many rohingyas and bangladeshs have settled in border areas in recent years. And they must be eliminated from the list,” said Bhim Singh, deputy for the BJP of Bihar.

“The gentleman has nothing to do with the religion of anyone and the opposition pupils because he knew he will lose the elections to come and will need a scapegoat to blame for their loss,” he added.

JD (U) and State legislator, Neeraj Kumar Singh, said that “the electoral commission is only doing its job”.

“There are many voters on the list that appears two or even three times. So shouldn’t that be corrected?” he asks.