India opposition bloc calls for older voter rolls and paper ballots

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge has urged India’s opposition INDIA bloc to demand that electoral rolls prepared before the Special Intensive Revision be used in future elections and that voting take place through paper ballots instead of electronic voting machines. Kharge made the proposals in opening remarks at an INDIA bloc meeting in New Delhi on Wednesday. He called for a joint action plan and said the opposition should seek complete transparency in every revision of the electoral roll.

He proposed constituency-wise and booth-wise information on additions, deletions and corrections, as well as advance notice, reasons and an effective appeal process before a legitimate voter was removed. Kharge also called for protection of eligible voters who might otherwise be excluded because of administrative failures, inadequate documentation or lack of awareness. He said the opposition must defend the principle of one person, one vote and one value.

He accused Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar of being exposed and called for his resignation. Kharge said the commissioner should “turn approver” against powers he alleged were interfering in electoral rolls. These were political claims made at the meeting and were not independently established in the supplied material.

Kharge said opposition parties had raised questions about electronic voting machines and alleged changes to voter lists, including claims concerning Mahadevpura, Aland, Haryana and Maharashtra. He criticised the Election Commission for failing to acknowledge their complaints. He said the Commission had described the Special Intensive Revision as an effort to clean and update electoral rolls, but argued that the system should ensure no genuine voter was disenfranchised.

Kharge claimed that 13.3 crore voters had been removed, without the supplied material providing an independent confirmation. The meeting was attended by Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Mamata Banerjee, Omar Abdullah, Supriya Sule, Tejasvi Yadav and leaders of several opposition parties. Kharge said the bloc should leave the meeting with a clear programme of action and an Election Commission trusted across the political spectrum.