CHENNAI: While urging the Election Commission of India (ECI) to scrap the “unfair” Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in Bihar, the DMK on Friday expressed concern that the BJP-led union government may conspire to include lakhs of people from other states in the electoral roll of Tamil Nadu.
DMK general secretary and Water Resources Minister Duraimurugan said that, with election to Tamil Nadu Assembly happening next year, there is a threat of serious implications for the State as voters may get disenfranchised en masse through such exercise here.
“This could undermine the political rights of Tamil Nadu,” he said, in a statement.
Pointing to reports that around 36 lakh of the 65 lakh people who have lost their voting rights during the SIR were those migrated to other States for work, he said even those who have temporarily migrated have been removed without any inquiry.
It is shocking that the ECI has said migrants can register themselves as voters in the states where they currently resided, he said. He alleged that lakhs of people with anti-BJP mindset were removed as part of SIR, in which the underprivileged and the minorities were the ones affected.
Referring to Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha and Congress MP Rahul Gandhi’s expose of alleged irregularities in the electoral rolls, which according to him has created shockwaves, Duraimurugan said that BJP, which came to power by spreading lies, is resorting to shortcuts. “It is desperate to destroy democracy in states where it knows it can never win,” he alleged. He accused the ECI of acting according to the political will of the BJP.
He criticised AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K. Palaniswami “betraying the people of Tamil Nadu” by remaining silent on the issue. “Has he dared to mortgage the voters of Tamil Nadu in Delhi? If not, why is he not speaking out against the flawed SIR process?” the minister asked.