Bihar: ECI Rejects 'Vote Theft' Claims, Says Parties Ignored Error-Checking Process

Patna: Amid the ongoing controversy over SIR of the electoral rolls in Bihar and ‘vote theft’ allegations, Election Commission of India (ECI) on Sunday said that it seemed that some political parties and their booth level agents (BLAs) did not examine the Electoral Rolls at the appropriate time and did not point out errors, if any, to SDMs/EROs, DEOs or CEOs. 

Asserting that political parties were involved at each stage of preparation of electoral roll, ECI in a press note asserted that appropriate time and opportunity waS given to voters and political parties to rectify errors, if any.

Recently, some political parties and individuals are raising issues about errors in electoral rolls, including the electoral Rolls prepared in the past, EC noted. 

After the publication of the draft electoral rolls, digital and physical copies of the same were shared with all political parties and put on the ECI website 

for anyone to see. Following the publication of the draft ER, a full one-month period is available with the voters and political parties for the filing of claims and objections before the final ER is published. 

After the publication of the final ER, digital and physical copies are again shared with all the recognised political parties and published on the ECI website. 

 Following the publication of the final ER, a two-tiered process of appeals is available wherein the first appeal may be preferred with the district magistrate (DM) and the second appeal with the CEO of every State/UT. 

Utmost transparency is the hallmark of electoral roll preparation as per law, rules and guidelines, the ECI asserted.

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The ECI said the appropriate time to raise any issue with the electoral rolls would have been during the claims and objections period of that phase, which is precisely the objective behind sharing the electoral rolls with all political parties and the candidates. 

"Had these issues been raised at the right time through the right channels, it would have enabled the concerned SDM/EROs to correct the mistakes, if genuine, before those elections," it added. 

Earlier, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had cited  data from Mahadevapura assembly segment, which falls under the Bengaluru Central parliamentary constituency, accusing the ECI of ‘colluding’ with the BJP.