NEW DELHI: The Delhi Congress on Monday claimed that the Election Commission had “increased” the number of polling booths days before the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls and that the move compromised the exercise’s transparency. There was no immediate reaction from EC.
According to an official statement, a delegation of the Delhi Congress submitted a memorandum to the Joint Chief Electoral Officer Balram Meena, addressed to the Chief Electoral Officer Ashok Kumar, seeking “reconsideration of the decision to increase” the number of polling booths before the revision process begins on June 30.
The party urged the Election Commission to defer any changes to polling stations until after the completion of the SIR so that the exercise could be based on verified voter data.
Delhi Congress president Devender Yadav alleged that the decision to increase polling booths in several Assembly constituencies just days before the revision exercise had been taken “at the behest of the BJP.”
“For the last nine to ten months, the Election Commission was working on the SIR process. Why was the decision to increase the number of polling stations taken only three to four days before it begins?” he asked.
Yadav claimed the timing of the decision raised questions over the transparency of the electoral exercise.
He said the EC had earlier completed the exercise of increasing polling stations by reducing the maximum number of voters per booth from 1,500 to 1,200.
“If the purpose of the SIR is to determine the actual number of voters in each Assembly segment, the number of polling stations should logically be decided after that exercise,” Yadav said. “If the EC already has a clear estimate of the requirement of polling stations, the question arises as to the need and functioning of the SIR process itself,” he added.