RANCHI: Politics has intensified over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voters, coinciding with the commencement of the monsoon session of the Jharkhand Assembly on Friday.
The ruling alliance has announced it will protest against the SIR both inside and outside the House on 4 August, while opposition parties have termed the planned protest as dishonest and absurd.
The Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), which leads the ruling coalition, has declared that SIR will never be allowed to be implemented in Jharkhand under any circumstance. Chief Minister Hemant Soren, during a meeting with ruling party MLAs ahead of the monsoon session on Thursday, alleged that SIR poses a threat to the constitutional rights of ordinary citizens.
“The INDIA alliance is against this decision of the Election Commission,” said Soren. “Several issues were discussed during the meeting, including the SIR in Bihar. The INDIA bloc is against the decision of the Election Commission, and we also protest this,” he said. “Whatever is happening in Bihar regarding SIR itself shows how the constitutional institutions are being misused by the central government,” he added.
According to State Finance Minister Radha Krishna Kishore, a resolution will be passed in the Assembly opposing the implementation of SIR in Jharkhand, which will then be forwarded to the central government. “SIR is just a political conspiracy; the BJP is deliberately imposing it on non-BJP ruled states through the Election Commission,” he alleged.
“The poor and the weaker sections are affected by the governance and policies during the BJP regime. Through SIR, the BJP is trying to exclude the poor and the weaker sections from the opportunity to vote,” said the finance minister.
State Health and Disaster Management Minister Dr Irfan Ansari also opposed the SIR, claiming that a conspiracy is being hatched to remove the names of Muslims, tribals and Dalits from the voter list. “BJP knows that Muslims, tribals and Dalits are not their vote bank, therefore efforts are being made to remove them from the voter list, which will never be allowed,” said Ansari.
However, JDU MLA Saryu Rai termed the ruling party’s protest against SIR as dishonest and absurd, stating that the Election Commission possesses abundant powers that cannot be taken away by any government—be it Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha or Vidhan Sabha.
Expressing displeasure over the INDIA bloc’s opposition, Rai said, “A good initiative has been taken by the Election Commission, and the political parties should also keep an eye on it by making their workers at the lower level as booth-level agents. The Election Commission has also made arrangements for this and they are also given identity cards.”
BJP MLA Naveen Jaiswal alleged that by opposing the SIR, the Hemant Soren-led government is attempting to continue protecting Bangladeshi Rohingya infiltrators.
Notably, preparations for the SIR process have already begun in Jharkhand, as officials in all districts have been instructed to remain in alert mode. According to sources, the process will begin once instructions are received from the Election Commission of India.