- 2 months ago
A political storm has erupted over the Election Commission's Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voter rolls across 12 states. Opposition parties, including the Trinamool Congress and DMK, led by figures like Mamata Banerjee and M.K. Stalin, have accused the BJP of conspiring to disenfranchise minorities and the poor ahead of elections. 'The motive is clear, Preeti ji,' declared TMC spokesperson Tausif Rehman, alleging the selective targeting of states like West Bengal. The controversy follows a similar exercise in Bihar, which resulted in the deletion of nearly 66 lakh names from voter lists. While the opposition terms it 'silent, invisible rigging,' the BJP defends the drive as a necessary clean-up of electoral rolls to remove ineligible voters, citing constitutional provisions and previous revisions under Congress rule. The Election Commission maintains it is a transparent process to ensure the integrity of the voter list.
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NewsTranscript
00:00Welcome, you're watching To The Point. I'm Preeti Chaudhary. We come to you right now from Chhapra and we begin with the latest news break that is coming in where Bihar elections are concerned.
00:11It does seem RJD had a bit of an issue with their camp and the latest coming in is that the party has expelled 10 RJD leaders for anti-party activities.
00:23They've been ousted for six years earlier. RJD had expelled 27 leaders and total till now 37 RJD Nipras have been expelled in just the last three days alone.
00:36It's been a big move by RJD just ahead of the Bihar polls. The latest, of course, that is coming in is just a few hours ago for anti-party activities.
00:47The RJD has now expelled 10 more leaders. I want to connect right now to my colleague Rohit Singh who's joining us for more details.
00:57Rohit, what more can you add? What was the reason?
01:01Well, see, RJD has taken action against 10 of its party leaders. One of them is a sitting MLA who has been denied a ticket and he is contesting elections as an independent.
01:13And three former MLAs also, they have also been expelled from the party apart from the rest.
01:19And basically, the party has taken action against all these 10 RJD leaders for indulging into anti-party activities.
01:28And what we know is that several of these leaders, in fact, who were denied tickets, have filed a nomination to fight elections as an independent,
01:38whereby they are going to, in fact, going to damage the RJD's whole prospect in various constituencies.
01:44And that is why the party has considered this as an anti-party activity and has taken action and expelled 10 party leaders from the party for six years.
01:55Out of which, four of them are, one of them is a sitting MLA and three are former MLAs.
02:00Back to you.
02:01All right, Rohit, appreciate you joining us for that big update.
02:08We are going to keep a keen eye on all developments coming in.
02:10The latest is that the RJD has expelled 10 more leaders.
02:13That takes the count over 30 for the RJD in the last three days.
02:17A fair amount of rebellion that they've been facing.
02:19And leader of, in terms of 30 leaders now, expelled by the, 37 in all, expelled from the RJD as for anti-party activities.
02:29We're going to leave it at that.
02:31We're going to come back, get you more from Bihar.
02:33But let's shift focus.
02:35Something which was started in Bihar is now finding opposition dissent across the country, and that is the SIR.
02:43Well, the Election Commission, just a few days, has announced that there will be a nationwide SIR that will be taking place.
02:50Because certain political parties and certain governments of states that will go into elections next year have raised now very, very strong objections.
03:02Mamata Banerjee is one of them.
03:04Alongside you have the DMK, Mr. Stalin.
03:08Kolkata Mayor Firhad Hakim issued a fiery warning to the BJP and the Election Commission, pointing to the CAA camps organized by the BJP in Bengal.
03:27He alleged a conspiracy to link the special intensive revision of voter rolls in the state with the Citizenship Amendment Act.
03:35If there is a genuine name of voter, if it is cut, then we will do the SIR, whatever you do, we will do it.
03:45The other, the CAA's name, the camp, the election commission, if it is happening on their side, if it is happening on their side, we will do it.
03:55We will do it, and we will do it when they will break their hands.
03:57The SIR process, first implemented in Bihar earlier this year, triggered massive controversy as it led to the deletion of nearly 66 lakhs of names from the voter list of the poll-bound state.
04:16Opposition parties alleged that the exercise that would now be carried out in 12 states was aimed at disenfranchising the poor and minorities.
04:27We've seen what they've done in Bihar and how they've implemented the SIR over there.
04:33And if that's what they're going to do in every state, then it is an affront to democracy.
04:38And we have to fight it.
04:40DMK has called the process a backdoor attempted by BJP and its archenemy AIADMK to win Tamil Nadu in 2026.
04:49Samajwadi Party has decided to appoint senior party workers as SIR PDA Prahari.
05:09They are to keep a watch on the voter list revision exercise and ensure that genuine names from Pichda or backward, Dalit and minority communities in Uttar Pradesh do not get removed.
05:22The election commission, on the other hand, has already started to prepare its ground mechanism to start the SIR process from 4th November.
05:3151 crore voters across 12 states and union territories will be part of the scanning process for the month-long drive.
05:39We have started the schedule as given by the election commission of India.
05:44The main activities there would be meeting with the political parties, printing of the enumeration forms,
05:51as well as having various trainings, which we've already discussed with the DC collectors and DOs today.
05:58The special intensive revision will take place in Kerala, Gujarat, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Andaman and Nicobar, Lakshadip, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Puducheri, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh.
06:14The election commission on Monday has clarified that the other poll-bound states in 2026, Assam will not be part of the SIR 2.0 as the NRC process is still going on there.
06:27Bureau Report, India Today.
06:29All right, we are so disenfranchisement of voters or clean-up, sanitization of the voter list.
06:42Let's take this question to our panelists this evening.
06:45Joining me is Mr. Ray Sarwanan, National Spokesperson DMK,
06:49Dolly Sharma, National Spokesperson Congress,
06:51Sanju Verma, National Spokesperson Bharatiya Janata Party,
06:54and Tawsef Rehman, National Spokesperson TMC.
06:58I want to begin with the TMC and the DMK
07:01because both parties have launched strong objection to the SIR
07:04to be conducted across nations, especially in their state,
07:09beginning with the TMC spokesperson.
07:11Right in the beginning, one of the main contentions was, Mr. Rehman,
07:16that most political parties had no problem
07:19and this was something that was even put forth in court.
07:22With the process of SIR, it was the timing in Bihar
07:25because it was too close to election.
07:28But SIR now, if conducted in West Bengal, is not too close to election.
07:31So what really is the problem?
07:35Ma'am, good evening to everyone.
07:36Ma'am, see, the problem is only, it's not about SIR,
07:39silent, invisible rigging.
07:41It's all about a hypocrisy.
07:43When I say hypocrisy, ma'am, you have to give me a little bit of time
07:45so I can explain you.
07:46First, I want to show to your viewers this map.
07:49I mean, this is the map, it says Bangladesh and all the connected borders.
07:53So the borders is not only West Bengal map.
07:56The borders are West Bengal, Assam, Meghala, Tripura, Mizoram.
08:00But where are we starting the SIR?
08:02We are starting from Bengal.
08:03And why?
08:04Because they claim, somehow they claim,
08:07that one crore Rohingya and Bangladeshis are staying in Bengal.
08:11Ma'am, in the northeast region of India,
08:13we share borders with both Bangladesh and Myanmar.
08:15If we look at Bangladesh, it is surrounded by five Indian states,
08:19Bengal, Meghala, Assam, Tripura and Mizoram.
08:22However, the Special Intensive Revision SIR
08:25is being carried out only in Bengal,
08:27while the other four states have been exempted.
08:30Why?
08:30Now let's look at Myanmar.
08:32It shares its border with four Indian states,
08:34Mizoram, Manipur, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh.
08:37People coming from Myanmar are referred to as Rohingyas.
08:41Absolutely fine.
08:41The BJP leaders claim that there are one crore Rohingyas in Bengal.
08:45But as anyone can see on the map, as I showed you, Ma'am,
08:49Bengal does not even share a border with Myanmar.
08:53If Rohingyas are entering India,
08:56it would be through one of these four states.
08:58So the question is, what exactly is the ACI's intention?
09:03If we stated purpose of the SIR is to stop illegal infiltration,
09:08then the process must begin at the borders.
09:11I mean, that is where it should be checked.
09:14If a Rohingya were to reach Bengal, Ma'am,
09:16they would have to pass through one of these four border states first?
09:20Then why have these states been exempted on the very first place from SIR?
09:26Bangladesh and Myanmar together share borders with eight Indian states.
09:30Yet, yet the SIR is being conducted only in Bengal.
09:34Why, Ma'am?
09:34Why this selective targeting?
09:37The motive is clear, Preeti Ji.
09:39The election commission says that the SIR will be conducted across the country
09:46and the process has already started.
09:47It's not just in Bengal.
09:49It happened in Bihar as well.
09:50And it's going to happen in multiple states in a phase-wise manner.
09:54I want to bring in Mr. Sarvanan from the DMK
09:56because the other party that has raised strong objections to it.
10:00And I'll hark you back to what's happening in court, Mr. Sarvanan,
10:02because political parties from Bihar who have opposed and other who have opposed it
10:10has opposed SIR primarily on the basis of the timing that it was too close to elections.
10:15But that is not the case where your state is also concerned like Bengal.
10:19Our elections are slated to be held in April, 2026.
10:27And we are not even six months away from the elections.
10:30The way they are trying to show it, one month.
10:34And our leader, Mr. MK Stalin, has pointed out that this is the monsoon season.
10:38And people in the entire state of Tamil Nadu and people will be put to great hardships.
10:45And how come the political parties will be able to finish it off within a month?
10:50Earlier, this SIR used to happen and there used to be sufficient time.
10:56The only question is this.
10:57Why have they not announced this SIR immediately after 2024 across the country
11:02so that there would have been an uniform process and everybody would have been able to take part
11:09in an objective way?
11:11That was how it was carried out earlier.
11:14But BJP, they wanted to test Bihar, test the waters of Bihar.
11:18And they have become successful.
11:20They have disenfranchised 69 lakh voters and 33% of them are Muslims.
11:26And disproportionately, women voters have been pushed out because of this SIR exercise.
11:31They want to replicate this across the country.
11:35And that is why we are opposing it.
11:37It is against democracy.
11:39The BJP is very well aware that the minorities are not going to vote for them.
11:44The women are not going to vote for them.
11:46The SCSTs and the OBCs are not going to vote for them.
11:49That is why high number of votes that have been pushed out in Bihar is from these communities.
11:56And they want to do this across the country.
11:59And nowhere, earlier, earlier, this SIR used to be an inclusionary practice.
12:07Now, the trust is on exclusion.
12:11Fine.
12:122002-2003, your name is there.
12:15Okay, now they have said, okay, if your relative is there, fine, you will be included.
12:19If not, it is incumbent upon the voter to provide the details.
12:23Sir, you have timed out.
12:25I need to, I will circle back to you.
12:26I want to bring in Sanju Verma into this conversation.
12:29Sanju Verma, let's flip the debate there.
12:31One of the main reasons for the SIR to be held was outsiders, Guzpetia.
12:36Now, results are out in Bihar.
12:39The election commission is yet to tell us whether or not there were any Guzpetias involved or outsiders that have been identified.
12:47Because at least Prime FSI, it seems that they weren't there.
12:50And if you do look at the names of the voters cut, the DMK does have a point spokesperson here.
12:55He says very clearly, and that has happened in Bihar for the first time, you can see a huge drop in the number of women voters.
13:02There were always more women that voted in Bihar, at least on the basis of the voter list.
13:07And if you look at the voter list today, men and women are practically equal.
13:10So, a huge chunk of the women voters have come down post-SIR.
13:18Preeti, I hope my timer starts now.
13:21First and foremost, let's get one thing very clear.
13:24The Supreme Court has clearly said, is the SIR a democratic exercise? Yes.
13:29Is the SIR a valid exercise? Yes.
13:31Is the election commission within its ambit to conduct the SIR-wide Article 326 of the Constitution? Yes.
13:39Because Article 326 says, no eligible voter should be left out, and no ineligible voter should be on the voter rolls.
13:48Did the Supreme Court say that the election commission has the right to conduct periodic revision of electoral rolls? Yes.
13:55Was an SIR conducted when the Congress was in power in the center in Bihar in 2003? Yes.
14:01Was the SIR conducted in Delhi in 2006 when the Congress was in power in the center? Yes.
14:06Was the SIR conducted in Uttarakhand in 2008 when the Congress was in power in the center? Yes.
14:13So, if the SIR was valid in 2003, 2006, 2008, I fail to understand why the noise when the SIR is being conducted in Bihar
14:23and will be conducted likewise in 12 other states in 2025, 2026.
14:27I mean, Congress is correct. DJP is correct. I'm sorry, this selective amnesia, selective outrage will not work.
14:36The second point I want to make is this.
14:38In May 2024, the Niti Aayog said, between 1950 and 2015, in those 65 years,
14:44the Hindu population fell by 7.82%, from 84.68% to 78.06%, while the Muslim population rose from 9.84%.
14:59It rose by 43.15%, and not this entire 43.15% was organic.
15:08This is what the Niti Aayog says. It's because a large part of the growth was inorganic,
15:13and the SIR will weed out inorganic growth thanks to ghustekiyas.
15:19Ma'am, you've timed out.
15:21Ma'am, you're quoting a Niti Aayog study, but let's just look at what the SIR results say in the state of Bihar,
15:27and I'll circle back to you for your two minutes,
15:29because the SIR results clearly seem to suggest it's not that a huge chunk of Muslim voters have been cut.
15:34Actually, a lot of number of women voters have been cut, and on the other hand,
15:39when you talk about illegals, outsiders, ghustekiyas,
15:42there aren't really any that have been identified, which is worth mentioning in terms of sheer numbers.
15:47Either the Election Commission comes and gives out those numbers.
15:50I'll circle back to you, but Dolly Sharma, I will come back to that same question that I raised earlier,
15:56with the TMC as well as the DMK.
15:59The main contention was what?
16:01That the timing was off, it was happening too close,
16:03which was about three months before elections in the state of Bihar.
16:06And that's why the exercise should not be conducted.
16:10That's not the case.
16:11You're going into elections in Tamil Nadu and West Bengal all the way in April.
16:15Now, are you against sanitization of voter lists?
16:18Because that is a process that should and needs to be done.
16:22Purification of voter lists is something that is needed in this country.
16:25Preeti, from day one, before the Bihar SIR also, time and again, we were telling the same thing,
16:41that the question is on the timings.
16:43The timings, why they are being done now?
16:46Like, for example, you have seen in Bihar, election commission of India did not disclose the voter list.
16:53Time and again, we asked, we were asking them, we were asking them how many number of ghospatiyas you have found in the voter list of Bihar.
17:03Please name them.
17:03And it is not the duty of election commission of India to, you know, check who is the citizen of this country, who is not the citizen of this country.
17:11This is the duty of the home ministry of this country, number one.
17:15Number two, during, like she said, during UPA's regime, 90,000, 90,000 non-residents, non-Indians were deported.
17:28You tell me how many of them are deported during NDA's time.
17:33It is only merely 2,500.
17:35They shout a lot, but they do nothing when it comes to throwing the Rohingyas out, number one.
17:41Secondly, more importantly, you tell me, people today who wants to vote, there were so many objections,
17:49lots and lots of objections which were filed.
17:52Election commission is not answering them.
17:54Pawan Kheda ji has done a press conference, our other leaders have done press conferences,
17:58our leader of opposition Rahul Gandhi ji has openly told in front of the entire media,
18:04he did a press conference and asked several questions, you know,
18:08but there is no answer that we have got from the election commission of India.
18:12And fairly, today, like whatever we have seen in Bihar,
18:16everybody, whether it is DMK, whether it is any party, you know, ruling or non-ruling in this country,
18:25is really, really, in today's time and age, they are thinking what they are going to do with their states.
18:31Mamma, your time is up.
18:32And press conferences and political posturing is very different.
18:35There is something entirely else with what the top court of the country has said,
18:39where this exercise is concerned.
18:41And interesting in that as well is that the political parties that have appealed,
18:46that have petitioned, don't seem to give the points of view that you are giving right now.
18:52Because they were okay with the entire process.
18:55The main contention was the timing of it all.
18:57But allow me to give two minutes each to all of you, you know,
19:01your final two minutes to put your party's point of view forward.
19:04I'd cut across to the TMC first.
19:06You have two minutes to give your point.
19:08Pritiji, the problem is like, you know, the SIR is not about an electoral list.
19:14They just want to segregate India.
19:16They want to segregate the people of India.
19:18They want to insult the Bengal and the Bengalis.
19:20So this is the reason why they have opted for Bengal.
19:23They are not going for Assam.
19:24The BJP is dangerous.
19:26Obsession with the divisive excise like NRC, CAA,
19:29and now SIR is driving innocent people to despair, ma'am.
19:32I mean, in Panihati, if you see, 57-year-old Pradeep Kar ended his life just because of,
19:38and he was thinking about NRC, leaving behind a note that read,
19:42NRC is responsible for my death.
19:45I mean, in Kuj Bihar, another man attempted suicide,
19:47terrified that the SIR drive would blame him an outsider in his own land.
19:52I mean, you can see the fear-mongering and who's creating this
19:55because the things happened in Bihar, because of this Gyanesh Kumar,
20:00this all blunder is done by Election Commission of India.
20:02The BJP must answer how many more lives will be lost
20:05before they stop weaponizing citizens for votes.
20:07I mean, this is the same citizen who voted for BJP,
20:11who brought a big mandate,
20:12brought Narendra Modi and became a Prime Minister,
20:15and now they are saying these people are outsider.
20:17Sir, your time is up.
20:18I'd like to cut across to the DMK.
20:20Mr. A. Sarvanan, you have one minute to put your party's point forward.
20:23See, when they say that the Nithya Yogi report
20:27points out that inorganically the Muslim population has gone up,
20:31who's responsible?
20:33Is it not Mr. Amit Shah,
20:35who's responsible to cut down illegal immigrants?
20:38Is he giving a confession
20:39that he's an incompetent home minister?
20:43What are they trying to drive at?
20:45They're inting at their own incompetence
20:47and say to cover up their own incompetence,
20:50we are trying to bring this.
20:51And yet another important aspect is,
20:55the earlier SIR was entirely different
20:58when compared to what they are trying to do now.
21:01It is not an intensive revision.
21:03What they are doing is summary dismissal,
21:05summary deletions,
21:06without any basis.
21:08Earlier, they used to go door-to-door
21:11and have the voters list.
21:13Now, the onus is on the voter to provide.
21:17And earlier, there was no penalty.
21:19But now, within one month, if you're not there,
21:21the name is deleted.
21:22You can't vote.
21:23There is no other way forward.
21:25This is how the Tony and this SIR is.
21:27I believe you've timed out.
21:28I'd like to give this one minute to Sanju Verma
21:30to put her point forward.
21:32Go ahead, Ms. Verma.
21:33Piti, let's get one thing very clear.
21:37The TMC and DMK giving certificates on governance
21:40to BJP, Narendra Modi and Amit Shah is laughable.
21:44The union home minister does not need lessons
21:46in governance from peer panelists of TMC and DMK.
21:50DMK has forgotten about the Karoor tragedy
21:53where so many lives were lost
21:55and NK Stalin was caught snoozing at the wheel
21:57and the TMC has forgotten.
22:00The Arjikar horror.
22:01The South Law College Kolkata rape horror.
22:04The Durgaapur horror.
22:06So don't sit here and give lectures to the BJP.
22:08And as far as Rahul Gandhi is concerned,
22:10let me say one thing.
22:11The SIR exercise started in June 2025
22:15on the 24th of June.
22:17By 20th of July,
22:18booth-level data was shared
22:19with all political parties.
22:21By August 20th,
22:22draft list was out.
22:23By 30th September,
22:24final list was out.
22:26The Congress has more than 17,000 BLA
22:29and not a single objection was filed.
22:32Not a single counterclaim was filed.
22:36Khera said,
22:36we have 89,000,000 complaints.
22:39Okay, ma'am, I believe your time is up.
22:41Okay.
22:42I'm not in a studio.
22:43I have to take use.
22:45Your time is up.
22:45I'd like to give this one minute
22:47to the Congress spokesperson.
22:48Go ahead, ma'am.
22:52Yeah.
22:53Preeti, I would like to ask,
22:55has India reached to a point
22:56where the government selects the voter
22:58instead of voter selecting the government?
23:00Because whatever they are saying,
23:01we have seen Prime Minister speaking in lens.
23:04But when it comes to this exercise,
23:07the Prime Minister is silent.
23:08He is not able to speak a single word.
23:10And has it not been a matter of concern
23:13for the Prime Minister?
23:14Why is he silent when every party is speaking
23:17on the deletions?
23:18You know, we have first time seen
23:20that 80 rupees given to per deletion of vote.
23:24Rupees 80.
23:25And we are, who is saying
23:27we have not given objections?
23:28Lots of, lots of objections were filed.
23:31But who is answering?
23:32Nobody is answering.
23:34You know, the ECI,
23:36Chuna Avayog has become Chuna Avayog.
23:38They are putting on the whole country's people.
23:41They are asking questions for the opposition party.
23:45They are not bothered at all.
23:46They are not answering.
23:48They are not bothered at all.
23:49One second.
23:50Okay, ma'am, your time is up.
23:51I believe your time is up.
23:53Ms. Drolli Sharma, your time is up.
23:55But I just want to ask you
23:56one very quick question.
23:57Who is paying 80 rupees?
23:59What source are you referring to
24:00for per deletion of votes?
24:02One line, ma'am.
24:03See, it was, yeah, yeah.
24:08There were many sources.
24:09And on the television also, Preeti,
24:11you must have seen 80 rupees
24:12were paid for per deletion.
24:14No, ma'am.
24:15No, no, no.
24:15Please don't quote.
24:16No, no, no.
24:18I don't know who your source is.
24:20I just want to leave it at that.
24:22I'm going to leave it at that.
24:23Thank you for all four of you
24:24for joining us.
24:25We are going to leave it at that
24:26and move on to our next big story
24:30that we are tracking all the way in Bihar.
24:33which is developing in Delhi.
24:36And what's not developing, though,
24:38in Delhi is rain despite cloud seeding.
24:41It does seem that IIT Kanpur
24:43has now abandoned the second attempt
24:45of cloud seeding
24:46because they think
24:47that the atmospheric conditions
24:49are just not conducive enough.
24:51Fair amount of money
24:52was spent in the first round itself.
24:54Delhi's desperate bid to wash away
25:04its toxic air
25:04has quite literally fallen flat.
25:07A day after cloud seeding failed
25:09to bring in any rain,
25:10the operation has been put on hold
25:12with IIT Kanpur
25:13citing low moisture levels
25:15over the city.
25:16As the smog thickens
25:18and pollution climes,
25:19the question now is
25:20can science really save Delhi
25:22from its choking skies?
25:25The IIT Kanpur team,
25:27which led Tuesday's
25:28cloud seeding operation,
25:29confirmed that the cloud seeding
25:31schedule for Wednesday
25:32had to be suspended
25:33due to insufficient moisture
25:35in the clouds.
25:36Prediction for today was
25:38that there will be clouds
25:41with the higher moisture content.
25:43But today morning
25:44that was revised
25:46that the moisture content
25:48is going to be
25:49even lower than yesterday.
25:50So we therefore have decided
25:52not to go ahead today.
25:55Instead, we'll wait
25:56for an opportune moment,
26:00which hopefully we'll get
26:01in the next few days.
26:03And then we'll try again.
26:04While the skies remain dry,
26:05the air remains deadly.
26:08On Wednesday afternoon,
26:09Delhi's air quality index
26:11hovered between 300 and 330,
26:13firmly in the very poor category.
26:16Sprinklers and anti-smog guns
26:18were deployed across
26:19key stretches like Lodi Road
26:20as authorities scrambled
26:22to bring some relief
26:23from the smog.
26:24Meanwhile,
26:25the politics over pollution
26:26has once again heated up.
26:28The Ahmadami party
26:29has launched a scathing attack
26:31on the Delhi government,
26:32calling the pollution control effort
26:34a PR stunt.
26:35The BJP, however,
26:37defends the project.
26:38The
26:47No-Tanky
26:48The
26:49No-Tanky
26:52foreign
27:06foreign
27:22For now, Delhi's cloud seeding has failed to make it rain, but it has certainly sparked
27:30a storm over accountability, science and the city's continuing struggle to breathe.
27:36Bureau Report, India Today.
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