EVEN as the Election Commission of India (ECI) is currently engaged in verification of electoral lists in Bihar, many political parties -- particularly in the Opposition camp -- are worried that the exercise may lead to a massive alteration in the State’s election pattern. Because information is leaking out that many irregularities are being noticed in the electoral roles, many political parties suspect that some tampering may be taking place in the voters’ lists. Some political parties have gone to the extent of insisting that the Election Commission has no business effecting corrections in the voters’ lists. Of course, such accusations and complaints make no sense in the least -- since it is part of the basic duty of the Election Commission to ensure that electoral roles are free of any faults.

 

Even as doubts are surfacing about countless families in Bihar having registered as many as fifty persons in voters’ lists, serious questions are being asked about the genuineness of those names. It needs to be noted that vast lengths of Bihar’s areas are adjacent to Nepalese border, and doubts are being expressed if countless thousands of non-Indian names have been entered into the State’s electoral roles. Another area of concern is about the Bihar areas bordering West Bengal -- from where countless numbers of Rohingya people are suspected to have crossed into the State and have their names registered as voters. This also could mean massive numerical distortion in Bihar’s electoral arithmetic. Normally speaking, political parties must feel rightly worried about distortions in the voters’ lists, and should start asking for correction.

 

Yet, strangely, most Opposition parties (belonging to the I.N.D.I. Alliance) are shouting themselves hoarse against tampering of electoral roles even as the Election Commission seeks to correct lists by ascertaining names of individual voters. Factually, it should be the endeavour of all political parties to ensure that electoral roles are corrected as urgently as possible. But many Opposition parties are raising the question of integrity and honesty of the Election Commission as it seeks to verify names in the existing voters’ lists. Many Opposition leaders such as former Deputy Chief Minister Mr. Tejashwi Yadav have even used abusive language describing the efforts of the Election Commission -- whereas all political parties should be making sincere attempts to ensure that there are mistakes left in the voters’ lists. What is in evidence in Bihar, however, is the cantankerousness of the Opposition parties in accepting the attempts of the Election Commission to ensure correct voters’ lists.

 

This edginess of the Opposition parties has given rise to doubts if Bihar’s electoral lists had already been tampered with by political vested interests. Hence the resistance of the Opposition parties to the Election Commission’s efforts to verify the voters’ lists -- as some politic al observers now suspect. If these doubts have any substance, then the task of correction of voters’ lists and their serious verification becomes a nationally important task. In fact, such a task should be conducted on a nationwide basis so that no malpractices are allowed to take place when the nation goes to polls in due time. In fact, the Central Government must announce a nationwide programme of verification of all voters’ lists all over the country so that no doubts about their correctness are allowed to prevail. Bihar may be treated as a test case, thanks to the peculiar political culture prevailing there. But it would be worthwhile to scrutinise the voters’ lists nationwide so that no scope is left for any manipulations that would finally affected electoral outcome when the country goes to polls in due time. This issue, thus, assumes a great political importance.