- The whole country would agree in unison with the subject headline and wish to add more inputs/feedback as to how the gargantuan exercise undertaken by the Election Commission of India (ECI) could have been easier/enjoyable to participate. In a democratic system, the authorities – including the constitutional institutions – must make it an inalienable part of their responsibilities to usher in any envisaged measures/initiatives inherently imbued with easy-to-comprehend guidelines. Especially in a country like India with such diversity in language, ethnicity, beliefs and faith spread across the large swathe of landscape makes it even more challenging for the constitutional authorities to keep everything simple and palatable.
PC: India Today
- However, what has been witnessed in the last year and a half about the special intensive revision (SIR) is proving to be anything but simple because of the too many complexities involved in the exercise. Voters are still stumped by EC’s rules and are struggling to be included in the rolls. For a better perspective, one might have expected, after the tortuous labyrinthine process in 10 states/UTs and massive exclusions, that at least the voter enrolment form would no longer trigger anxiety. That enrolment would have been standardized in the 19 remaining states and UTs, where EC’s SIR is underway. Alas, confusion still reigns, because the process is inconsistent. Some of the columns seeking information leave us completely stumped.
PC: The Leaflet
- EC had said a pre-filed enumeration will be made available to electors, which will have to be simply resubmitted in SIR’s third avatar. However, BLOs are asking existing long-term voters to fill up Form 6 that enrols new voters, and in the house-to-house all queries will be fixed. Everyone’s a new voter. While in earlier avatars, reportedly, only those who were never enrolled as voters would need to provide parents’ documents, in recent rounds, we need to provide parents’ details, or previous EPIC numbers, regardless. Imagine what this means for an orphan, a 75-year-old, or an 18-year-old whose parents have never wanted to be on the voter roll. It is harrowing. From where does an orphan produce parental records?
PC: Deccan Chronicle
- Agonizingly, what will EC do with details of an 80-year-old’s parents born pre-Partition? Who is to assure the 18-year-old migrant that she will not be viewed with suspicion, simply because her parents were never on the voter rolls? If so, is she an alien? Being on the electoral roll is not mandatory. Making it an exclusionary process by placing the onus of proving eligibility on the individual and making SIR documentation a nightmare is only increasing citizens’ pain. The less said, the better about the documentation to prove bonafide existence. Passport is a mere travel document, ration cards are off-limits, Aadhaar is iffy, and birth certificates are a recent phenomenon. The ECI should immediately replace exclusionary tactics with inclusionary ones.
