Kohima, November 11 (MExN): The Nagaland Pradesh Congress Committee (NPCC) on Wednesday rejected the BJP’s attempt to dismiss concerns over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, saying the state’s own official figures raised serious questions about the scale of exclusion.
The party in a press statement said the draft roll showed a net reduction of 1,50,751 electors compared with the pre-SIR electorate, and demanded that the BJP explain how many of the 1,23,749 electors categorised as “absent, shifted or others” were actually ineligible.
The NPCC was reacting to the BJP’s “Loktantra Bachao, Bheed Tantra Hatao” campaign held in Dimapur on November 7.
Citing figures from the Chief Electoral Officer, Nagaland, the NPCC said the pre-SIR electorate stood at 13,57,208, of whom 11,99,456 (88.38%) submitted enumeration forms. A total of 28,944 electors (2.13%) were identified as deceased, 1,23,749 (9.12%) as absent, shifted or others, and 5,059 (0.37%) as duplicate or multiple enrolments. In all, 1,57,752 entries were not covered by enumeration, it said.
The draft electoral roll has 12,06,457 electors, including 7,001 service electors.
The NPCC said the “absent, shifted or others” category included people who were not found, had shifted residence or failed to submit forms by the deadline, and “cannot automatically be equated with illegal or ineligible voters.”
“The BJP must answer a straightforward question: how many of these 1,23,749 electors are genuinely ineligible, and how many are eligible citizens who have been left out of the draft roll?” the party said.
It also dismissed the BJP’s argument that entries flagged for verification were not necessarily deleted, saying this did not change the fact that 1,57,752 entries were not carried forward into the draft roll. “Verification must result in the protection of genuine voters, not merely the reduction of electoral figures,” it said.
The NPCC clarified that it was not opposed to cleaning up the rolls, but said the removal of deceased and duplicate entries must not result in genuine citizens losing their right to vote.
The party said it had consistently raised concerns and agitated against the SIR. It claimed that the Election Commission’s decision to extend the revision process in Nagaland and a few other states until November 22 underscored the seriousness of its objections.
The NPCC said the extension reinforced the need for transparency, accountability and thorough verification, and demanded that the Election Commission ensure no genuine voter was excluded due to administrative shortcomings or procedural difficulties. “The BJP must stop dismissing legitimate concerns as political propaganda and answer the questions raised by Nagaland’s own electoral data,” it said.
