- 3 months ago
Opposition parties, including the Trinamool Congress and Congress, lashed out at the Election Commission and questioned the intent of announcing the second phase of SIR in 12 states and Union Territories.
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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 Nipra's 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?
01:00Well, 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.
01:29And 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,
01:37whereby 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. Back 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.
02:20And leader of, in terms of 30 leaders now, expelled by the, 37 in all, expelled from the RJD as for anti-party activities.
02:30We're going to leave it at that. We'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, then we will do the SIR, whatever you do, we will do it.
03:45The other thing is the CAA's name, the camp, the election commission, and if there is an election commission, if there is an election commission, if there is an election commission 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, and we have to fight it.
04:40DMK has called the process a backdoor attempted by BJP and its arch-enemy AIA-DMK to win Tamil Nadu in 2026.
04:51The SIR party has decided to appoint senior party workers as SIR PDA Prahari.
05:10They are to keep a watch on the voter list, revision exercise, and ensure that genuine names from Pichara 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.
05:38We 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, as well as having various trainings,
05:53which we've already discussed with the district electors 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,
06:55and Tawsef Rehman, National Spokesperson TMC.
06:58I want to begin with the TMC and the DMK because both parties have launched strong objection to the SIR
07:04to be conducted across nations, especially in their state, beginning 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 and this was something that was even put forth in court.
07:22With the process of SIR, it was the timing in Bihar because it was too close to election.
07:27But SIR now, if conducted in West Bengal, is not too close to election.
07:31So what really is the problem?
07:34Ma'am, good evening to everyone. Ma'am, see, the problem is only, it's not about SIR, silent, invisible rigging.
07:40It's all about a hypocrisy. When I say hypocrisy, ma'am, you have to give me a little bit of time so I can explain you.
07:46First, I want to show to your viewers this map. I mean, this is the map.
07:50It says Bangladesh and all the connected borders. So the borders is not only West Bengal, ma'am.
07:56The borders are West Bengal, Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura, Mizoram. But where are we starting the SIR?
08:02We are starting from Bengal. And why? Because they claim, somehow they claim that one crore Rohingya
08:08and Bangladeshis are staying in Bengal. Ma'am, in the northeast region of India,
08:13we share borders with both Bangladesh and Myanmar. If we look at Bangladesh,
08:17it is surrounded by five Indian states, Bengal, Meghalaya, Assam, Tripura and Mizoram.
08:22However, the special intensive revision SIR is being carried out only in Bengal,
08:27while the other four states have been exempted. Why?
08:30Now, let's look at Myanmar. It shares its border with four Indian states, Mizoram, Manipur,
08:35Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh. People coming from Myanmar are referred to as Rohingyas.
08:41Absolutely fine. The 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, Bengal does not even share a border
08:52with Myanmar. If Rohingyas are entering India, it would be through one of these four states.
08:58So, the question is, what exactly is the ACI's intention? If we stated purpose of the SIR is to
09:06stop illegal infiltration, then the process must begin at the borders. I mean, that is where it
09:13should be checked. If a Rohingya were to reach Bengal, ma'am, they would have to pass through
09:18one of these four border states first. Then why have these states been exempted on the very first
09:24place? From SIR, Bangladesh and Myanmar together share borders with eight Indian states. Yet,
09:30yet the SIR is being conducted only in Bengal. Why, man? Why this selective targeting? The motive is
09:38clear, Preeti Ji.
09:39The election commission says that the SIR will be conducted across the country and the process has
09:46already started. It's not just in Bengal. It happened in Bihar as well. And it's going to happen
09:51in multiple states in a face-wise manner. I want to bring in Mr. Sarwanan from the DMK because the
09:57other party that has raised strong objections to it. And I'll hark you back to what's happening in
10:02court, Mr. Sarwanan, because political parties from Bihar as who have opposed and other, you know,
10:08who have opposed it has opposed SIR primarily on the basis of the timing that it was too close to
10:14elections. But that is not the case where your state is also concerned like Bengal.
10:22Our elections are slated to be held in April, 2026. And we are not even six months away from the
10:29elections. The way they are trying to show it, one month. And our leader, Mr. MK Stalin, has pointed
10:36out that this is the monsoon season and people in the entire state of Tamil Nadu and people will be put
10:43to great hardships. And how come the political parties will be able to finish it off within a month
10:49earlier? Earlier, this SIR used to happen and there used to be sufficient time. The only question is
10:57this. Why have they not announced this SIR immediately after 2024 across the country so that
11:03there would have been an uniform process and everybody would have been able to take part
11:09in an objective way? That was how it was carried out earlier. But BJP, they wanted to test Bihar,
11:17test the waters of Bihar and they have become successful. They have disenfranchised 69 lakh voters
11:22and 33 percentage of them are Muslims. And disproportionately, women voters have been pushed out
11:30because of this SIR exercise. They want to replicate this across the country. And that
11:35is why we are opposing it. It is against democracy. The BJP is very well aware that the minorities are
11:43not going to vote for them. The women are not going to vote for them. The SCSTs and the OBCs are not
11:48going to vote for them. That is why high number of votes that has been pushed out in Bihar is from
11:55these communities. And they want to do this across the country. And nowhere, earlier, earlier,
12:02these, this SIR is used to be an inclusionary practice. Now, the trust is on exclusion.
12:11Fine. 2002, 2003, your name is there. Okay, now they have said, okay, if your relative is there,
12:17fine, you will be included. If not, it is incumbent upon the voter to provide the details.
12:23Sir, you've timed out. I need to, I'll circle back to you. I want to bring in Sanju Varma into this
12:28conversation. Sanju Varma, let's flip the debate there. One of the main reasons for the SIR to be
12:33held was outsiders' guzpetia. Now, results are out in Bihar. The election commission is yet to tell us
12:41whether or not there were any guzpetias involved or outsiders that have been identified. Because at
12:47least prime FSI, it seems that they weren't there. And if you do look at the names of the voters' cut,
12:53the DMK does have a point spokesperson here. He says very clearly, and that has happened in
12:57Bihar for the first time, you can see a huge drop in the number of women voters. There were always
13:03more women that voted in Bihar, at least on the basis of the voter list. And if you look at the
13:07voter list today, men and women are practically equal. So a huge chunk of the women voters have come down
13:14post-SIR.
13:18Preeti, I hope my timer starts now. First and foremost, let's get one thing very clear.
13:24The Supreme Court has clearly said, is the SIR a democratic exercise? Yes. Is the SIR a valid
13:30exercise? Yes. Is the Election Commission within its ambit to conduct the SIR-wide Article 326 of
13:37the Constitution? Yes. Because Article 326 says no eligible voter should be left out and no
13:44ineligible voter should be on the voter rolls. Did the Supreme Court say that the Election Commission
13:50has the right to conduct periodic revision of electoral rolls? Yes. Was an SIR conducted when
13:56the Congress was in power in the center in Bihar in 2003? Yes. Was the SIR conducted in Delhi in 2006,
14:04when the Congress was in power in the center? Yes. Was the SIR conducted in Uttarakhand in 2008,
14:10when the Congress was in power in the center? Yes. So if the SIR was valid in 2003, 2006,
14:162008, I failed to understand why the noise when the SIR is being conducted in Bihar and will be
14:23conducted likewise in 12 other states in 2025, 2026. I'm sorry, this selective amnesia, selective outrage
14:35will not work. The second point I want to make is this. In May 2024, the Niti Aayog said between 1950
14:42and 2015, in those 65 years, the Hindu population fell by 7.82 percent from 84.68 percent to 78.06 percent,
14:53while the Muslim population rose from 9.84 percent. It rose by 43.15 percent and not this entire 43.15
15:07percent was organic. This is what the Niti Aayog says. It's because the large part of the growth
15:12was inorganic and the SIR will weed out inorganic growth thanks to ghustekiyas.
15:18Ma'am, you've timed out. Ma'am, you're quoting a Niti Aayog study, but let's just look at what the SIR
15:25results say in the state of Bihar and I'll circle back to you for your two minutes because the SIR
15:30results 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,
15:38when you talk about illegals, outsiders, ghustekiyas, they aren't really any that have been identified,
15:44which is worth mentioning in terms of sheer numbers. Either the election commission comes
15:48and gives out those numbers. I'll circle back to you, but Dolly Sharma, I will come back to the
15:53same question that I raised earlier with the TMC as well as the DMK. The main contention was what?
16:01That the timing was off. It was happening too close, which was about three months before elections in
16:05the state of Bihar. And that's why the exercise should not be conducted. That's not the case.
16:11You're going into elections in Tamil Nadu and West Bengal all the way in April. Now,
16:16are you against sanitization of voter lists? Because that is a process that should and needs to be
16:22done. Purification of voter lists is something that is needed in this country.
16:29Yeah. Priti, from day one, before the Bihar elections also, sorry, before the Bihar SIR also,
16:37time and again, we were telling the same thing that the question is on the timings. The timings,
16:44why they are being done now? Like, for example, you have seen in Bihar, the election commission of
16:50India did not disclose the voter list. Time and again, we asked, we were asking them, we were asking
16:57them how many number of ghospatiyas you have found in the voter list of Bihar. Please name them. And it
17:04is not the duty of election commission of India to, you know, check who is the citizen of this country,
17:10who is not the citizen of this country. This is the duty of the home ministry of this country,
17:14number one. Number two, during, like she said, during UPA's regime, 90,000, 90,000
17:24non-residents, non-Indians were deported. You tell me how many of them are deported during NDA's time.
17:33It is only merely 2,500. They shout a lot, but they do nothing when it comes to throwing the
17:39Rohingyas out. Number one. Secondly, more importantly, you tell me, people today who
17:46wants to vote, there were so many objections, lots and lots of objections which were filed.
17:52Election commission is not answering them. Pawan Kheda ji has done a press conference. Our
17:56other leaders have done press conferences. Our leader of opposition Rahul Gandhi ji has openly
18:02told in front of the entire media, he did a press conference and asked several questions,
18:07you know, but there is no answer that we have got from the election commissioner of India. And
18:12fairly, today, like whatever we have seen in Bihar, everybody, whether it is DMK, whether it is any
18:20party, you know, ruling or non-ruling in this country, is really, really, in today's time and age,
18:28they're thinking what they're going to do with their states.
18:31Mami, time is up. And press conferences and political posturing is very different. There is
18:35something entirely else with what the top court of the country has said, where this exercise is
18:40concerned. And interesting in that as well, is that the political parties that have appealed, that
18:46have petitioned, don't seem to give the points of view that you're giving right now, because they were
18:53okay with the entire process. The main contention was the timing of it all. But allow me to give two
18:59minutes each to all of you. You know, your final two minutes to put your party's point of view
19:04forward. I'd cut across to the TMC first. So you have two minutes to give your point.
19:09Pritiji, the problem is like, you know, the SIR is not about an electoral list. They just, they just
19:14want to segregate India. They want to segregate the people of India. They want to insult the Bengal and
19:19the Bengalis. So this is the reason why they have opted for Bengal. They are not going for Assam.
19:24The BJP's dangerous obsession with the divisive excise, like NRC, CAA, and now SIR is driving
19:31innocent people to despair, ma'am. I mean, in Panihati, if you see, 57-year-old Pradeep Kar ended
19:36his life just because of, and he was thinking about NRC, leaving behind a note that read,
19:41NRC is responsible for my death. I mean, in Kuj Bihar, another man attempted suicide, terrified that the SIR
19:48right would brame him an outsider in his own land. I mean, you can see the fear-mongering and who's
19:54creating this because the things happened in Bihar, because of this Gyanesh Kumar, this all
20:00blunder is done by Election Commission of India. The BJP must answer how many more lives will be lost
20:05before they stop weaponizing citizens for votes. I mean, there are, this is the same citizen who
20:09voted for BJP, who brought a big mandate, brought Narendra Modi and became a Prime Minister,
20:15and now they are saying these people are outsider. Sir, your time is up. I'd like to cut
20:18across to the DMK. Mr. A. Sarvanan, you have one minute to put your party's point forward.
20:24See, when they say that the Nithya Yoga report points out that inorganically the Muslim population
20:30has gone up, who's responsible? Is it not Mr. Amit Shah, who's responsible to cut down illegal immigrants?
20:38Is he giving a confession that he's an incompetent Home Minister? What are they trying to
20:44drive at? They're hinting at their own incompetence and say, to cover up their own incompetence,
20:50we are trying to bring this. And yet another important aspect is, the earlier SIR was entirely
20:58different when compared to what they're trying to do now. It is not an intensive revision. What they're
21:03doing is summary dismissal, summary deletions, without any basis. Earlier, they used to go
21:10door-to-door and have the voters list. Now, the onus is on the voter to provide. And earlier,
21:18there was no penalty. But now, within one month, if you're not there, the name is deleted. You can't
21:22vote. There is no other way forward. This is… Mrs. Sarvanan, I believe you've timed out. I'd like
21:28to give this one minute to Sanju Verma to put her point forward. Go ahead, Ms. Verma.
21:33P.T., let's get one thing very clear. The TMC and DMK giving certificates on governance to BJP,
21:41Narendra Modi and Amit Shah is laughable. The Union Home Minister does not need lessons in governance from
21:48peer panelists of TMC and DMK. DMK has forgotten about the Karoor tragedy where so many lives were
21:54lost and MK Stalin was caught snoozing at the wheel. And the TMC has forgotten the Arjikar horror,
22:01the South Law College Kolkata rape horror, the Durgaapur horror. So, don't sit here and give
22:07lectures to the BJP. And as far as Rahul Gandhi is concerned, let me say one thing. The SIR exercise
22:13started in June 2025. On the 24th of June, by 20th of July, Booth-level data was shared with all
22:20political parties. By August 20th, draft list was out. By 30th September, final list was out. The
22:26Congress has more than 17,000 BLA. And not a single objection was filed. Not a single counterclaim was filed.
22:34Okay, ma'am, I believe your time is up. Okay. I'm not in a studio. I have to take use. Your time is up. I'd like to give this one minute to the Congress spokesperson. Go ahead, ma'am.
22:52Yeah, Preeti, I would like to ask, has India reached to a point where the government selects the
22:57voter instead of voter selecting the government? Because whatever they are saying, we have seen
23:02Prime Minister speaking in lens. But when it comes to this exercise, the Prime Minister is silent. He
23:08is not able to speak a single word. Has it not been a matter of concern for the Prime Minister?
23:14Why is he silent when every party is speaking on the deletions? You know, we have first time seen
23:20that 80 rupees given to per deletion of vote. Rupee is 80. And we are, who is saying we have not given
23:28objections? Lots of, lots of objections were filed. But who is answering? Nobody is answering. You know,
23:34the ECI, Chunav Aayog has become Chuna Aayog. They are putting the whole country to the people.
23:41They are asking some questions from the opposition party. They are not bothered at all. They are not
23:47answering. One second. Okay, ma'am, your time is up. I believe your time is up. Miss Drolli Sharma,
23:54your time is up. But I just want to ask you one very quick question. Who is paying 80 rupees? What
23:59source are you referring to for per deletion of votes? One line, ma'am.
24:05See, it was, yeah, yeah. There were many sources. And on the television also, Preeti, you must have
24:11seen 80 rupees were paid for per deletion. No, ma'am. No, no, no. Please don't quote.
24:16No, no, no. But okay. I know who your source is. I just want to leave it at that. I'm going to leave
24:22it at that. Thank you for all four of you for joining us. We are going to leave it at that
24:27and move on to our next big story that we are tracking all the way in Bihar, which is developing
24:35in Delhi. And what's not developing, though, in Delhi is rain despite cloud seeding. It does seem
24:42that IIT Kanpur has now abandoned the second attempt of cloud seeding because they think
24:47that the atmospheric conditions are just not conducive enough. Fair amount of money
24:52was spent in the first round itself.
25:02Delhi's desperate bid to wash away its toxic air has quite literally fallen flat.
25:07A day after cloud seeding failed to bring in any rain, the operation has been put on hold,
25:12with IIT Kanpur citing low moisture levels over the city. As the smog thickens and pollution climbs,
25:19the question now is, can science really save Delhi from its choking skies?
25:25The IIT Kanpur team, which led Tuesday's cloud seeding operation, confirmed that the cloud seeding
25:31schedule for Wednesday had to be suspended due to insufficient moisture in the clouds.
25:37Prediction for today was that there will be clouds with the higher moisture content.
25:43But today morning that was revised, that the moisture content is going to be even lower than yesterday.
25:50So we therefore have decided not to go ahead today. Instead, we'll wait
25:58for an opportune moment, which hopefully we'll get in the next few days, and then we'll try again.
26:04While the skies remain dry, the air remains deadly. On Wednesday afternoon, Delhi's air quality index
26:10hovered between 300 and 330, firmly in the very poor category. Sprinklers and anti-smog guns were
26:18deployed across key stretches like Lodi Road, as authorities scrambled to bring some relief from the
26:23smog. Meanwhile, the politics over pollution is once again heated up. The Aam Admi Party has launched
26:30a scathing attack on the Delhi government, calling the pollution control effort a PR stunt. The BJP,
26:36however, defends the project.
26:39If the population of the country is in the same place, the state government is in the same place and
26:50companies have announced his money. The Thailand community has already been able to do it. The
26:51state government, which are as much as possible, but the national government will be除ished.
26:55The state government is in the training of the National Commission, and the government
26:57is being charged with the states and the state government officials have already in the
26:58terms of communities. And the government gives the state government a requirement. And the
26:59track government will give the state government, we begin to take the state government,
27:00For now, Delhi's cloud seeding has failed to make it rain.
27:29But it has certainly sparked a storm over accountability, science and the city's continuing struggle to breathe.
27:36Bureau Report, India Today.
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