THE observation of the honourable Supreme Court is absolutely on the mark when it says that electoral rolls cannot be static. In other words, electoral rolls are dynamic in nature since some people listed there are likely to depart from life or move to other parts of the country. However, this simple logic does not seem to make much sense with the Opposition leaders who are trying to intensify their agitation against Bihar’s revised voter-lists. Though the Election Commission has stressed that the current lists are only a draft document and will undergo appropriate revision, the Opposition does not seem interested in listening to the voice of reason. The situation is truly unfortunate. For, the Opposition has refused to see logic in the Election Commission’s assertions rom time to time about the flexible and practical approach it has adopted in making new voter-lists.

 

That has led the honourable apex court to ask (rather indignantly), in effect, how can the EC delete the names of those who are dead, migrated or shifted to other constituencies without a revision ? To this question, the Opposition does not have any logical answer except cantankerousness. That was the reason why its leaders wanted to take as many as 300 Members of Parliament to the EC’s office instead of 30 as was permitted by the poll panel. Even street urchins would see the logic in the EC’s restriction on numbers, but the Opposition leaders would have none of those points. Nothing can be more unfortunate than this in a democratic country. Since the Opposition took the position against the Bihar’s draft electoral rolls, different experts have brought to fore the fallacy in its argument -- point by point, issue by issue. Yet, the Opposition in general and the Congress party led by Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Mr. Rahul Gandhi in particular have refused to listen to the voice of reason. That has led most political observers to suspect the Opposition’s core intentions. They now suspect that the Opposition is interested more in causing disturbance in the country by raising doubts about the integrity of the constitutional institutions and processes by which every elected representative assumes his or her role in democracy.

 

The very illogic in the Opposition’s argument is now fully exposed to the nation. No one appears to take the Opposition seriously on this issue. This condition is sure to reflect in the electoral behaviour of the people in the ensuing elections -- by reduced numbers of overall votes the Opposition may attract. The real trouble is that the Opposition leadership has gone blind to these realities. Really ? -- we feel like asking. For, we are unwilling not to grant the Opposition some credit for its collective intelligence and logical reasoning. But the Opposition’s strange conduct raises many questions about their wisdom. When a group at the helm of Opposition politics is so reluctant to see sense and logic in the systemic process and raises doubt unnecessarily, then the questions become all the more grim. Time and again, we -- and countless many others who understand things correctly -- have urged the Opposition not to waste its and the nation’s time and energy on non-issues, only to no avail. That has often led us to suspect if the Opposition is playing into the hands of some hidden conspirators (may be located outside the country) whose intentions are to destabilise India at any cost. In those dirty designs, the Opposition appears to have become an easy pawn. We are sure, the Opposition may never like such a charge. In that case, its leaders should reconcile to the reality that they have been indulging in lots of stupidity that stands to no logic. They, therefore, must ponder over the apex court’s observation that voter-lists cannot remain static.