Exercise will have ‘devastating’ effects: TMC’s Gokhale
PTI, PATNA, JUNE 27, 2025 : The Opposition INDIA bloc in Bihar on Friday strongly opposed the Election Commission’s (EC) proposed intensive revision of electoral rolls ahead of the state Assembly elections. Averment to this effect came at a joint press conference here addressed by RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav, Congress’ media and publicity department chief Pawan Khera, and CPI(ML) general secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya, among others.
“We suspect that this exercise, which seeks documents from voters that few might possess, is aimed at disenfranchising a large number of people—especially those from deprived sections of society,” alleged Yadav, a former Deputy CM who is currently the leader of the opposition. He alleged: “Once names are struck off the voters’ list, the next step could be depriving these people of the benefits of social welfare schemes.”
The young leader remarked: “It is impossible for the EC to conduct such a mammoth exercise in just 25 days, as it has proposed. If, indeed, it is possible, I would challenge the Centre to get the caste census done in two months flat.”
Speaking on the occasion, Khera said: “Mahatma Gandhi’s three monkeys saw, heard, and spoke no evil. The EC sees, hears, and speaks no truth. When our leader Rahul Gandhi raised doubts over the way assembly polls were held in Maharashtra, the rebuttal came from the BJP.” He also claimed that for the EC, Bihar was a “laboratory” and similar experiments could follow elsewhere in the country.
Bhattacharya, who had written to the EC voicing his opposition a day ago, claimed that the proposed exercise would be a “logistical nightmare.”
Speaking on the issue, Trinamool Congress MP Saket Gokhale alleged that the ‘Special Intensive Revision’ of electoral rolls proposed to be carried out in Bihar will have “devastating” effects on voting rights and also on citizenship.
In a post on X, he said those failing to provide the documents required for the revision can easily be branded as “foreigners,” and losing voting rights is not the only danger. “The Modi government is taking away your right to vote and bringing in the NRC (National Register of Citizens) using the Election Commission. Yesterday, West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee raised a very important issue which will have devastating effects not only on your voting rights but also your citizenship,” the MP said.
Gokhale said as per the exercise, voters, new and existing, will have to provide within one month proof of birth and birthplace for those born before July 1987, proof of birth and birthplace for self and one parent for those born between July 1987 to December 2004, and proof of birth and birthplace for self and both parents for those born after December 2004.
“If these documents are not submitted within a month, your name will be deleted from the voter list. ECI has started this exercise with Bihar polls and will be doing it in West Bengal and all other states after December,” he said.
According to Gokhale, it is “dangerous,” because “a large number of people in India do not have copies of their birth certificate, let alone of their parents.” “Across rural India, many people have had home births—which means they never got a birth certificate. It is impossible for anyone to secure these documents within a month. If they don’t, they lose their voting rights,” he said.
“Those failing to provide these documents can easily be branded as ‘foreigners.’ Losing voting rights is not the only danger. The Modi government can easily strip away the citizenship of those who don’t have these documents,” he said.
Gokhale alleged that through this move, the Modi government is using the Election Commission to “make mass deletions of legitimate voters, and use the deletions to question people’s citizenship.” He demanded the ECI roll back the decision.
“The purpose of this new exercise is to manipulate Bengal elections for the BJP and then replicate this model all over India. The ECI must be forced to roll back and scrap this dangerous and sinister program which will be used for deleting voters & even snatching their citizenship,” Gokhale added.
The Election Commission of India (ECI) has issued instructions to carry out a Special Intensive Revision in Bihar to weed out ineligible names and ensure all eligible citizens are included in the electoral roll, allowing them to exercise their franchise in the polls slated later this year.
