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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NewsTranscript
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 uh 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 is
03:02just uh to establish one's identity and the residence proof so that is one aspect which needs to be
03:10understood 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
03:39that we 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 a scenario
03:55supreme court would take a stern view of all this and then intervene right uh also you know during the
04:02hearing bippinji uh election commission of india lawyer he was continuously showing that table where
04:08it 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 cpiml i mean all of
04:28these political parties they are making a un cry about this issue but when it comes to filing a complaint
04:33only two complaints and that too by cpim i mean what's going on no but to the best of my knowledge
04:39you know i think that a lot of complaints have been filed now as of now you know in the present day
04:45scenario so now because the opposition is leaving no stone unturned going all guns blazing and in order
04:53to you know ensure that of course they are able to uh you know put it across to the length and breadth of
05:02the country that the process has a lot of lacunes but then as far as ecci is concerned and the ruling
05:09dispensation is concerned they have made their stance amply clear that uh there are no lacunes and of
05:15course they also want to ensure that every voter's name uh whoever is a bona fide voter whoever is
05:22genuine then their names are there on the rolls so i think uh this is quite on the expected lines
05:28because elections around the corner not much time is left so these things are expected and a lot more
05:37is uh you know is uh can be will be witnessed you know in the days to come because uh we should not
05:43forget that the bihar elections we normally have this you know trend of uh labeling different uh elections as
05:52semi-finals but this promises to be a clincher a decider and decider when i say i say it with utmost
06:01uh conviction reason being because it has going to be it is going to be having a direct impact on how the
06:08nda is going to perform in the next few years whether it is going to be a smooth sailing or whether
06:15there are going to be hiccups you know because uh nitish kumar factor is an extremely vital factor and
06:22you know knowing going by his track record of uh taking utah and then you should not forget that
06:29what happened in jan 2024 when he suddenly broke away from the alliance of uh with other coalition
06:37partners and then joined hands with the bjp nda so so anything can be expected you know because
06:44it's all open you know because uh ultimately whether uh jedu can amass the uh desired numbers the the
06:54seats irrespective of that they are going to be in the driving seat because whether it is rjd or bjp
07:02they would definitely uh want to who uh nitish kumar to their side and then if suppose one
07:10you know one possibility if bjp uh is not able to uh reach the majority and then along with the jedu
07:18then in such a scenario if rjd and uh jedu join hands along with congress then in such a scenario they
07:25can always you know uh maybe they can project nitish kumar as the pm of the india alliance or they
07:31offer him the cm birth like what they have been offering all these years and then uh then in the
07:36process uh bargain for his support and then to break away from the nda faction yeah it's a it's a it's
07:43going to be a major showdown the bihar elections and definitely as you said it's going to be a decider
07:50uh but you know i want to go back to the basic the fundamental issue of sir uh you know in the debate
07:57we often hear why the burden of uh you know proof to show that i am the citizen of the country and
08:04i'm a legitimate voter in any election why should the burden of proof be on the citizen or on the
08:11voter and not on the state or per se not on the election commission of india as far as i know you
08:16know the constitution of india it says that election commission of india can you know get the registration
08:22done but when it comes to prove uh it plays no part why it should be the case how fair it is again
08:28a very very relevant question now you see first of all when i spoke about uh the supreme court verdict
08:36being a mixed bag of joy for both the ruling dispensation as well as the opposition party as
08:42far as the ruling dispensation goes you know because it has made very clear the directive is very clear
08:47that the 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 1950
09:04so 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
09:19on the 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
09:48direction lot more needs to be done and of course another very pertinent question that needs to be
09:53addressed is whether the eci uh actually carried out this process conducted this process too late in the
10:02day because considering the population of bihar we should not forget close to uh 14 crores so it's not a
10:10small number by any standard so uh keeping this in consideration this exercise should have been
10:16conducted much earlier so i think that is the moot issue you know november is the election and the
10:24exercise starts in the month of june so close to the elections uh are we going to see an sir before
10:32the bengal elections as well it is also a very burning question right now i knew this was coming my way
10:37in us so you see again uh this has uh enormous significance because of course after bihar as i
10:45said bihar is going to be a clincher and then we should not forget that what happened in west bengal
10:50because the top brass the uh all the the star campaigners of bjp were there in west bengal last
10:59elections and uh they were making all the tall claims that they would uh cross 200 mark where and
11:07at the end of the day they could not even make a century cross 100 and so but then the scenario is
11:14much different now because uh whatever has happened in bengal especially the crimes against women
11:21uh last two years so that uh augurs well for bjp but of course you know because the people of uh west
11:32bengal are uh you know awaiting was a wind of change and they want uh a new government but then whether
11:43sir exercise will clinch the battle whether these people the the bjp nda will repeat the similar strategy
11:50there in west bengal that needs to be seen because we should not forget that west bengal and bihar are
11:58two different poles all together so different situation different uh state of affairs and of
12:04course different mindset right that remains to be seen in march next year uh but you know i want to
12:12go into the technicalities of how election commission of india is functioning i mean when it talks about
12:18that among the deleted voters the 65 lakh deleted voters they can you know come back and fill the
12:26form six now my question to you is why should these voters be filling these forms i mean these forms are
12:32supposed to be filled for those voters who are first time voters so for example for any xyz reasons
12:39my name is being deleted from the draft electoral rule then why should the obligation be it on me why
12:45can't i simply produce the identification you know documents and be done with it absolutely no second
12:51thoughts about that i mean for the first time voter it is understandable that uh you know since form 6
12:57is an official application used by the uh the vote the individuals above 18 but then what about those
13:04voters who are already enrolled and who are already eligible and then for some extraneous reasons or some
13:12very uh inexplicable reasons their names are not there on the rolls such a scenario of course it
13:18should be the responsibility of the authorities to uh you know conduct and to fulfill all these
13:26obligations not the other way around right uh truly said also uh you know pipinji there is one more
13:32thing about how blas are functioning of these political parties on ground i mean some of the belies
13:37actually you know getting in touch with the voters they're taking their identification cards in bulk
13:43and then going to the election commission of india and submitting these documents on behalf of these
13:47voters then you know india is conducting elections since 1952 have we still not come to a place where
13:56we have a proper operational you know functioning of the election commission of india why no acknowledgement
14:02slips are being given to them and why supreme court now has to you know come back and say that okay
14:07so the acknowledgement uh slips must be given to these blas who are coming on behalf of the voters i mean
14:13it is not the first time that the bihar uh the state of bihar is seeing sir it happened in 2003 as well
14:19is there no set you know sops per se you know absolutely again you know very very uh german issue
14:26and uh this uh needs to be addressed and because it's quite sensitive you know because if it it goes without
14:34saying that there have to be uh two slips you know one for the voter and one the acknowledgement receipt
14:41so now while the blas are issuing only one of course the the rational which they are offering is that you
14:50know because uh logistic issues uh the time constraints and then uh you know considering the bulk numbers
14:58in which they are getting all these uh claims so i think that again but then it does not augur well
15:05for the state of bihar as well as for the common man it sends a very wrong signal i think so uh you
15:12know because it is the prerogative it is the prerogative of these authorities to address this issue
15:17it is also the right of the voter every citizen to get that acknowledgement receipt in order to actually
15:25feel secure that yes now their name is there and then there can be no other uh discrepancies at a
15:33latter stage i think awareness on this part is missing when the voters are concerned on ground
15:39uh you know a lot of time gets wasted in supreme court during hearing hearing when the supreme
15:44court says that you need to make the list of these 65 flag deleted voters searchable and all of these you
15:50you know very minute issues i think there has to be some sort of uh you know guidelines as to how
15:56the sir needs to be conducted in india why all of these issues like you know submit the deleted voters
16:03list and then make it searchable for the political parties make it more accessible why can't we actually
16:08you know frame some sort of a guideline to act so that the next time whenever sir happens on the
16:15president of this sir if i'm supposing then i think it should be a smooth sailor absolutely you know
16:22because we are living in the 21st century and this is the era of artificial intelligence you have all the
16:28uh you know modern day ai tools the technology the innovation so and then expecting all these lacunes
16:37these these lapses i think that again does not send a very right message so you know had it been
16:45the case say two decades ago then of course we could have understood there are teething issues teething
16:51problems so but then in the present scenario of course we don't expect uh the authorities to you know
16:59have such of such kind of lapses so a thought needs to go in this direction so that then you know
17:05people are satisfied and there are no allegations of vote theft by the opposition party they have
17:11their right in a democracy in a robust democracy the opposition has all the right to raise questions to
17:19raise voices of dissent in a peaceful way but then you know but this also is unprecedented if there are
17:26allegations because earlier elections you know it used to happen post declaration of the results or
17:34once the election process was conducted but here the scenario is uh quite different you know it is
17:39happening before the uh election process so i think uh now it is a very you know it all boils down to a
17:48very very uh i would say interesting state because now the people are watching this election with uh you
17:58know a lot of uh a lot of eagerness plus because then as i said initially this is going to be a
18:05decider it is going to play a very critical role you know in the indian politics the next three years
18:12are going to be decided with this particular election just final question uh bippinji do you think that
18:18congress has become super active in the state of bihar just because of the election and uh it's is it
18:24actually caring for the voters or is it just kind of trying to hinge on this sir agenda for political
18:30gain you know i must lord you for this wonderful question because uh you know last year when uh bjp
18:40was stopped at 240 and then uh congress uh congress performance was uh far better compared to what how
18:49they fared in 2014 and 19. so then the expectations uh were soaring that yes congress is back and
18:58congress means business rahul gandhi especially the way he was going hammers and tongs in the parliament
19:04and uh so but then then again you know now because we want a very strong uh vibrant opposition who can
19:12raise questions who can corner the government and then uh now as far as these elections are
19:19concerned bihar and now suddenly seeing congress rahul gandhi in an active mode it augurs well it sends
19:25a good message but then whether it will uh last beyond the elections or it will fizzle out that again
19:34is something to be seen because what happened we should not forget what happened after haryana
19:39maharash and delhi look at delhi the capital so you know elections after elections they are unable to
19:46open their uh account here in delhi and we should not forget the golden era of sheila dikshet 1998 to
19:532013 when she was the cm and in the legis delhi legislative assembly you had all the congress mlas
20:00so but now not a single mla of congress party in the delhi legislative assembly so i think that also
20:06is uh not a very very uh bright uh sign for congress they need to really gear up and realize that they
20:16need to understand the pulse of the common man because uh you know it was a comeback for them in
20:23karnataka telangana but then the uh you know the defeat in uh haryana maharasht and delhi especially so i
20:32think that uh will definitely uh give them a lot to ponder about and to uh redevise their strategy
20:40if they actually want to stage a comeback because elections after all they are all about strategies
20:48true uh well thank you so much uh bippinji on that note i will take a leave but thank you so much i
20:54think your commentary was robust and throws a light on the issues that's plaguing election commission of
20:59india and the entire issue of sir thank you so much once again thank you please thank you
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