CEC defence of SIR raises more questions than answers: Stalin

MK Stalin

CHENNAI: A day after chief election commissioner Gyanesh Kumar defended the SIR of voter lists, Tamil Nadu chief minister MK Stalin Monday said the defence raised more questions than answers.”How can there be so many deletions of eligible voters when house-to-house enumeration was undertaken,” Stalin asked Election Commission on X, listing six questions and lending further heft to INDIA bloc’s crusade against SIR.The DMK chief claimed the enrolment of new voters was less and asked whether they had been enumerated. “Has any database been compiled to show how many youngsters who turned 18 on the qualifying date were included?”Stalin voiced apprehension that procedures for enquiry and two appeals under Registration of Electors Rules, 1960, may exclude a huge number of voters in the impending Bihar polls. “Is EC going to address this issue? Will EC take these practical difficulties into account while conducting SIR in other states,” he asked.The CM demanded that EC scrap SIR in other states, particularly Tamil Nadu, and urged DMK functionaries to be wary of addition or deletion of voters in the state ahead of the assembly polls next year.Stalin reminded EC about a DMK petition of July 17 seeking deletion of deceased voters. “When will this be done?” he asked. He wondered what prevented EC from enlisting Aadhaar as an acceptable documents to prove a voter’s claims. “If free and fair elections are truly EC’s aim, why can’t it be more transparent and voter-friendly?”