00:00I will raise the issue for example of SIR, the special intensive review exercise, revision exercise that's going on in Bihar.
00:07Opinion on EC conducting SIR in Bihar that has led to much of the furor.
00:12Done to ensure only citizens vote is 58%.
00:1658% believe it is to ensure that the roles are purified, the right people get to vote.
00:22Only 12% are questioning timing. Timing suspicious 12%.
00:26Done to help ruling party 17%.
00:29So please understand, when the EC looks at these numbers, they are going to turn around and say,
00:34look, only 17% are saying we are doing it to manipulate the votes or the timing is suspicious.
00:39There is a possibility that these 17% might be actual supporters of the Congress party or the India alliance.
00:45And so they are ensuring that whatever the campaign is happening in Bihar at this point of time is correct.
00:51So is the debate over EC Maria more a debate at the moment?
00:57Yes, Rahul Gandhi has taken it to the public.
00:59But the public, as per these numbers, is not necessarily castigating the election commission in the way we are in the studio.
01:06But Rajdeep, the opposition is also not saying that they should have wrong voters in the voters list.
01:14Their argument is also what this data is showing.
01:17That if there is voter list, it should be pure voter list.
01:21Only those who have the right to vote should vote in Bihar.
01:24So there is no distinction between what the opposition is saying and what the election commission is saying.
01:28But we have to make that distinction between the institution where now the opposition should attack the institution.
01:36They should question the functioning of the institution, the manner in which that press conference was also held by the CEC,
01:43where he appeared to be not ready to share the data in a more transparent way.
01:50The functioning of this institution is very opaque, is the larger sentiment.
01:54That is also getting reflected in this.
01:56Rajdeep, can I just, you know, you're looking at it at 17% and 12%.
02:00I'd look at it as 29%.
02:02Because if these are questions that are posed, not of any political party,
02:06these are questions that have been posed on a constitutional body called the Election Commission of India.
02:1012% of our respondents feel that the timing of SIR is suspicious.
02:1517% of them might feel that it is to benefit a particular party.
02:19But in all, nearly 29% of the people actually believe that there is an issue and this exercise is contentious.
02:26You know, but just a minute, just a minute.
02:2829% is roughly would also parallel, Yashwan, correct me if I'm wrong, those who are supporters, firm supporters of the opposition,
02:36not just in Bihar but across India.
02:38At the moment, Congress gets about 20-21% vote as per your survey.
02:42So, it seems that this entire issue of SIR, of whether elections are free and fair, also seems to a large extent divided on political lines.
02:51If I'm a critic of the Modi government, I believe elections are no longer free and fair.
02:55If I'm a supporter, they believe they are free and fair.
02:57Am I right or wrong?
02:58Not just critic of Modi.
03:00That's where I started this debate, you know.
03:03Those who are winning the elections, they would not question the elections.
03:08That's simple.
03:09No, but hold on. Mamta Banerjee, for example, or Stalin, they have also joined this campaign on...
03:14Because their elections are going to happen.
03:17That's their election is going to happen.
03:19No, no, so they are not, no one, the entire opposition at the moment is not giving a clean check.
03:23This is, this is, MOTN is not the mood, that mood of the leaders.
03:27It's the mood of the nation.
03:29Right.
03:29Mamta Banerjee's voters, they do not feel that elections are wrong because Mamta is sweeping 200 plus seats in Bengal.
03:38She has won one-sided landslide in the Lok Sabha election.
03:42So is with the Stalin and BMK.
03:43So who is this 29% that timing is suspicious or done to help the ruling party?
03:47Of course, of course, that primarily the Congress big time, big time the Congress voters and also to an extent, opposition leaders of the parties or the parties who are not in power.
03:59That's, that's the fact.
04:00So basically the doubt remains among those core supporters where they are unable to win.
04:06Can I ask, Yashwant, a question?
04:07Yes, please go ahead.
04:08Yeah.
04:08I want to ask you a question.
04:09If you had conducted this survey only in the state of Bihar, because this is a national survey, Rajdeep, these are national numbers.
04:15SIR, most people, somebody sitting in Tamil Nadu might not know what an SIR is, you know.
04:20I'm just giving an example.
04:21If, Yashwant, you had conducted this survey, opinion on conducted SIR only in the state of Bihar, would you have had different numbers?
04:27Different numbers, because we did conduct that on, in the political stock exchange, huge majority in Bihar was suspicious and having a problem.
04:36Exactly, there you have the answer.
04:37And that's where, because, because you see, everybody in Bihar is having a question mark,
04:42Mera naam karto nahi gya.
04:44Exactly.
04:44Apprehension.
04:46That, that thing, that fear of getting, and please remember, for an overwhelmingly huge majority of the Indians in the last three decades,
04:55the epic on the voter guide card, it's not about voting alone, it's about their identity, about access to the scheme of the average.
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