The Bihar Elections are shaping up to be a crucial battleground ahead of 2025. But is the SIR (Special Intensive Revision) being used as a mere political football by Rahul Gandhi and his party to gain leverage? Watch this exclusive conversation with Senior Journalist and Political Commentator Bipin Sharma with Asianet News English.
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00:00joining me today at asianet news is bippin sharmaji he's a senior journalist and also a
00:18political commentator he has a huge experience in the bihar politics he has covered many stories
00:25from ground uh bippin ji thank you so much for speaking with asianet news thank you energy and
00:30of course it's going to be a very engaging session and because bihar politics has its own significance
00:37as far as the indian politics is concerned yes true uh so i want to start by talking about
00:45of course the burning issue of special intensive revision uh you know when this exercise started
00:52in the month of june this year uh the opposition party was saying and it continues to say that it
00:58is something which is going to lead into the disenfranchisement of a large section of society
01:04and then in turn it will be a favor for the alliance the ruling alliance of bjp and jdu
01:09but now the supreme court orders as and when they are coming it seems a bit comforting for the
01:15opposition party as well uh recently it said that the 65 black voters they will be able to file claim
01:21by 1st of september and then of course they can extend if there is a chance to get the deadline
01:27extended and the supreme court also said that they will be able to produce a hard card also
01:32all of these orders how do you look at it a very pertinent question hina so now you see the supreme
01:39court order has to be understood in totality because uh one thing is certain that the order ensures
01:46transparency and voter friendly inclusivity and of course protection of voters right so that is of
01:54paramount significance so now it allows adhar card number one it allows the complaints to be filed
02:02and the claims to be filed so that is one aspect but then uh i would uh of course it's a very uh epic
02:11verdict and uh it is also a mixed uh verdict in the sense that it offers to both the ruling as well as
02:21the opposition parties something to cheer about so you know when you talk about uh uh the opposition
02:28party of course it's a shot in the arm for them because now they are uh hailing it as a landmark
02:33verdict saying that now the uh constitutional validity has been upheld and of course what they
02:40had been demanding for a long time that has been addressed and as far as uh the ruling dispensation
02:47the nda is concerned of course you know uh uh there are plethora of issues that need to be understood
02:53that first of all uh you know uh it no way says that the adhar card is a proof of citizenship so it
03:02is just uh to establish one's identity and the residence proof so that is one aspect which needs
03:10to be understood uh in uh its totality second point of course is uh very pertinent that uh there are a lot
03:18of uh guidelines which have been issued by the uh supreme court first of all you know you can file
03:25the counter claims and if there are any and then you can uh because at the end of it the objective
03:31is very clear cut that no voters name should be struck off the electoral roll so in order to ensure that
03:39we the supreme court has made it amply clear that if there are any discrepancies or if there are mass
03:47exclusions as was discovered earlier 65 lakh voters so if their names were omitted so in such
03:54a scenario supreme court would take a stern view of all this and then intervene right uh also you know
04:01during the hearing bippinji uh election commission of india lawyer he was continuously showing that table
04:08where it says that only two complaints have been filed in front of election commission of india now the
04:13political parties you know they come back and say that it's very difficult to get through to election
04:18commission of india and that is the one of the reasons why only two complaints have been filed
04:22though a lot of other political parties have raised it like congress tmc uh cpi cpi ml i mean all of
04:28these political parties they are making a u.n cry about this issue but when it comes to filing a
04:33complaint only two complaints and that too by cpim i mean what's going on no but to the best of my
04:39knowledge you know i think that a lot of complaints have been filed now as of now you know in the
04:45present day scenario so uh now because the opposition opposition is leaving no stone unturned going all
04:51guns blazing and in order to you know ensure that of course they are able to uh you know put it across
05:01to the length and breadth of the country that the process has a lot of lacunes but then as far as
05:07eci is concerned and the ruling dispensation is concerned they have made their stance amply clear
05:12that uh there are no lacunes and of course they also want to ensure that every voter's name uh whoever
05:20is a bona fide voter whoever is genuine then their names are there on the rolls so i think uh this is
05:27quite on the expected lines because elections are around the corner not much time is left so these things
05:33are expected and a lot more is uh you know is uh can be will be witnessed you know in the days to come
05:42because uh we should not forget that the bihar elections we normally have this you know trend of
05:49labeling different uh elections as semi-finals but this promises to be a clincher a decider
05:56uh decider and decider when i say i say it with utmost uh conviction reason being because it has
06:04going to be it is going to be having a direct impact on how the nda is going to perform in the
06:11next few years whether it is going to be a smooth sailing or whether they are going to be hiccups you
06:16know because uh nitish kumar factor is an extremely vital factor and you know knowing going by his track
06:24record of uh taking uterus and then you should not forget that what happened in jan 2024 when he
06:32suddenly broke away from the alliance of uh with other coalition partners and then joined hands with
06:39the bjp nda so so anything can be expected you know because it's all open you know because uh ultimately
06:47whether uh jdu can amass the uh desired numbers the seats irrespective of that they are going to be in
06:58the driving seat because whether it is rjd or bjp they would definitely uh want to who uh nitish kumar
07:07to their side and then if suppose one you know one possibility if bjp uh is not able to uh reach the
07:16majority and then along with the jedu then in such a scenario if rjd and uh jedu join hands along with
07:23congress then in such a scenario they can always you know maybe they can project nitish kumar as the pm
07:29of the india alliance or they offer him the cm birth like what they have been offering all these years
07:35and then uh then in the process uh bargain for his support and then to break away from the nda
07:41fraction yeah it's a it's a it's going to be a major showdown the bihar elections and definitely
07:48as you said it's going to be a decider uh but you know i want to go back to the basic the fundamental
07:54issue of sir uh you know in the debate we often hear why the burden of uh you know proof to show
08:02that i am the citizen of the country and i'm a legitimate voter in any election why should the
08:07burden of proof be on the citizen or on the voter and not on the state or per se not on the election
08:14commission of india as far as i know you know the constitution of india it says that election
08:19commission of india can you know get the registration done but when it comes to prove
08:24uh it plays no part why it should be the case how fair it is again a very very relevant question
08:30you know now you see first of all when i spoke about uh the supreme court verdict being a mixed
08:37bag of joy for both the ruling dispensation as well as the opposition party as far as the
08:43ruling dispensation goes you know because it has made very clear the directive is very clear that
08:48the eci election commission of india is a constitutional authority and it is empowered
08:54to uh conduct the sir and you know as per the section 21 3 of the people's uh represented act
09:031950 so in such a scenario uh you know it is quite evident it is quite clear that now uh this process
09:13has to be conducted but then as you rightly said that why it should be the uh the burden should go on
09:20the common man the voter it should be actually incumbent on the part of the state to take this
09:26responsibility and to shoulder it and to leave no stone unturned in ensuring that every voter who's a
09:32bona fide voter his or her name is included and so that you know even if one voter's name is excluded
09:40so that does not send a right message so i think uh definitely the thought needs to go in this direction
09:48lot more needs to be done and of course another very pertinent question that needs to be addressed
09:54is whether the eci uh actually carried out this process conducted this process too late in the day
10:02because considering the population of bihar we should not forget close to 14 crores so it's not a small
10:10number by any standard so uh keeping this in consideration this exercise should have been conducted much
10:18earlier so i think that is the moot issue you know november is the election and the exercise starts
10:25in the month of june so close to the elections uh are we going to see an sir before the bengal elections as
10:33well it is also a very burning question right now i knew this was coming my way ina so you see again
10:40this has enormous significance because of course after bihar as i said bihar is going to be a clincher
10:47and then we should not forget that what happened in west bengal because the top brass the uh all the
10:55star campaigners of bjp were there in west bengal last elections and uh they were making all the tall
11:03claims that they would uh cross 200 mark where and at the end of the day they could not even make a
11:10century across 100 and so but then the scenario is much different now because uh whatever has happened
11:18in bengal especially the crimes against women uh last two years so that uh augurs well for bjp but of
11:28of course you know because the people of uh west bengal are uh you know awaiting a window of change and they want uh a new government but then
11:42whether sir exercise will clinch the battle whether these people the the djp nda will repeat
11:48the similar strategy there in west bengal that needs to be seen because we should not forget that
11:56west bengal and bihar are two different poles all together so different situation different uh state
12:03of affairs and of course different mindset right uh that remains to be seen in march next year uh but you
12:11you know i want to go into the technicalities of how election commission of india is functioning i
12:16mean when it talks about that among the deleted voters the 65 lakh deleted voters they can you know
12:24come back and fill the form six now my question to you is why should these voters be filling these forms
12:32i mean these forms are supposed to be filled for those voters who are first time voters so for example
12:37for any xyz reasons my name is being deleted from the draft electoral roll then why should the
12:43obligation be it on me why can't i simply produce the identification you know documents and be done
12:49with it absolutely no second thoughts about that i mean for the first time voter it is understandable
12:55that uh you know since form 6 is an official application used by the uh the individuals above 18 but then
13:03what about those voters who are already enrolled and who are already eligible and then for some
13:10extraneous reasons or some very uh inexplicable reasons their names are not there on the rolls
13:16such a scenario of course it should be the responsibility of the authorities to uh you know
13:24conduct and to fulfill all these obligations not the other way around right uh truly said also uh you know
13:30bippinji there is one more thing about how blas are functioning of these political parties on ground
13:36i mean some of the bailey is actually you know getting in touch with the voters they're taking
13:41their identification cards in bulk and then going to the election commission of india and submitting
13:45these documents on behalf of these voters then you know india is conducting elections since 1952
13:54have we still not come to a place where we have a proper operational you know functioning of the
13:59election commission of india why no acknowledgement slips are being given to them and why supreme
14:04court now has to you know come back and say that okay so the acknowledgement uh slips must be given to
14:10these blas who are coming on behalf of the voters i mean is it is not the first time that the bihar
14:15uh the state of bihar is seeing sir it happened in 2003 as well is there no set you know sops per se
14:22you know absolutely again you know very very uh german issue and uh this uh needs to be addressed and
14:29because it's quite sensitive you know because if it it goes without saying that there have to be uh
14:37two slips you know one for the voter and one the acknowledgement receipt so now why the blas are
14:43issuing only one of course the the rational which they are offering is that you know because uh logistic
14:52issues uh the time constraints and then uh you know considering the bulk numbers in which they are
14:59getting all these uh claims so i think that again but then it does not occur well for the state of
15:07bihar as well as for the common man it sends a very wrong signal i think so uh you know because it is
15:13the prerogative it is the prerogative of these authorities to address this issue it is also the right
15:19of the voter every citizen to get that acknowledgement receipt in order to actually feel
15:26secure that yes now their name is there and then there can be no other uh discrepancies at a later
15:33stage i think awareness on this part is missing when the voters are concerned on ground uh you know a lot
15:40of time gets wasted in supreme court during hearing hearing when the supreme court says that you need to
15:45make the list of these 65 lakh deleted voters searchable and all of these you know very minute
15:51issues i think there has to be some sort of uh you know guidelines as to how the sir needs to be
15:58conducted in india why all of these issues like you know submit the deleted voters list and then make
16:04it searchable for the political parties make it more accessible why can't we actually you know frame some
16:10sort of a guideline to act so that the next time whenever sir happens on the president of this sir
16:17if i'm supposing then i think it should be a smooth sailor absolutely you know because we are living in
16:23the 21st century and this is the era of artificial intelligence you have all the uh you know modern
16:29day ai tools the technology the innovation so and then expecting all these lacunes these lapses i think
16:39that again does not send a very right message so you know had it been the case say two decades ago then
16:47of course we could have understood there are teething issues teething problems so but then in the
16:53present day scenario of course we don't expect uh the authorities to you know have such of such kind
17:00of lapses so a thought needs to go in this direction so that then you know people are satisfied and there are
17:07no allegations of vote theft by the opposition party they have their right in a democracy in a robust
17:13democracy the opposition has all the right to uh raise questions to raise voices of dissent in a
17:21peaceful way but then you know but this also is unprecedented if there are allegations because
17:27earlier elections you know it used to happen post declaration of uh the results or once the election
17:35process was conducted but here the scenario is uh quite different you know it is happening before
17:41the uh election process so i think uh now it is a very you know it all boils down to a very very uh
17:49i would say interesting state because now the people are watching this election with uh you know a lot of
18:00a lot of eagerness plus because then as i said initially this is going to be a decider it is going to play
18:07a very critical role you know in the indian politics the next three years are going to be decided
18:13with this particular election just final question uh bippinji do you think that congress has become
18:19super active in the state of bihar just because of the election and uh it's is it actually caring for
18:25the voters or is it just kind of trying to hinge on this sir agenda for political gain you know i must
18:32uh lord you for this wonderful question because uh you know uh last year when uh bjp was stopped at 240
18:41and then uh congress uh congress performance was uh far better compared to what how they fared in 2014
18:51and 19. so then the expectations uh were soaring that yes congress is uh back and congress means
18:59business rahul gandhi especially the way he was going hammers and tongs in the parliament and uh so
19:06but then then again you know now because we want a very strong uh vibrant opposition who can raise
19:13questions who can corner the government and then uh now as far as these elections are concerned bihar and
19:20now suddenly seeing congress rahul gandhi in an active mode it augurs well it sends a good message but then
19:26whether it will uh last beyond the elections or it will fizzle out that again is something to be
19:35seen because what happened we should not forget what happened after haryana maharash and delhi look at
19:40delhi the capital so you know elections after elections they are unable to open their account here in delhi and
19:50we should not forget the golden era of sheila dikshet 1998 to 2013 when she was the cm and in the
19:57legis delhi legislative assembly you had all the congress mlas so but now not a single mla of congress
20:03party in the delhi legislative assembly so i think that also is uh not a very very uh bright uh sign for
20:12congress they need to really gear up and realize that they need to understand the pulse of the common man
20:18because uh you know it was a comeback for them in himmarchal karnataka telangana but then the uh you
20:27know the defeat in uh haryana maharasht and delhi especially so i think that uh will definitely uh give
20:35them a lot to ponder about and to uh redevise their strategy if they actually want to stage a comeback
20:43because elections after all they are all about strategies true uh well thank you so much uh
20:50bippinji on that note i will take a leave but thank you so much i think your commentary was robust
20:56and throws a light on the issues that's plaguing election commission of india and the entire issue
21:01of sir thank you so much once again thank you please thank you
21:12you
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