Punjab Congress raises apprehensions about SIR

Chandigarh: The Punjab Congress has expressed concerns over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls being conducted by the Election Commission of India in the state.A delegation led by Fatehgarh Sahib MP Dr Amar Singh and Pradesh Congress Committee general secretary-organisation Capt Sandeep Sandhu raised various issues during an all-party meeting convened by the chief electoral officer, Punjab, on Friday.Later, interacting with the mediapersons, Dr Amar Singh and Capt Sandhu disclosed that they raised the issue of duplicate votes from other states that were registered in Punjab.Particularly, the voters from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, where the SIR process has already been completed, need to be screened in the Punjab electoral rolls, they said.The duo urged the CEO to raise the matter with the Election Commission of India, since the duplicate voters from other states could only be cross-checked by the ECI.The Congress leaders also raised the issue of 17% of voters who had not been mapped so far. They said around 34-35 lakh voters could lose the right to vote if immediate measures were not taken.The party also demanded an adequate "response time period" for the remedial measures in case anybody's vote was deleted.The Congress representatives also asked the commission to provide the lists of the deleted and newly added voters to the political parties for transparency. They also said the commission should ensure that booth-level officers (BLOs) closely coordinate with booth-level agents (BLAs) for better functioning.MSID:: 131119828 413 |