Justice Ujjal Bhuyan has warned of mass voter deletions so that genuine citizens would be treated as “second-class citizens.” He also says voting rights should not be trampled when changing electoral rolls.
The former judge made clear that there are grave consequences for leaving eligible voters off electoral lists without adequate safeguards.
Voter rolls are regularly updated to remove duplicate, deceased or otherwise ineligible voters from electoral lists and to ensure that electoral records are correct. But genuine voters are left out when these are done.
The right to vote is very much a part of democratic participation, so accurate electoral rolls are important. When eligible citizens find their names missing from voter lists, they may be unable to participate in elections even if they meet the eligibility criteria.
Justice Bhuyan’s warning comes as we talk about the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. The exercise has caused political and public debate in many parts of the country and questions of documentation, verification and the prospect of genuine voters being excluded.
Supporters of electoral roll revisions say regular verification is needed to keep voter lists clean and up-to-date. Eliminating duplicate and ineligible entries will help to secure electoral integrity and to prevent fraud, they say.
But the verification process can affect poorer and minority populations and those who don’t have the information required.
The controversy has also raised again the issue of the ability of election officials to provide voters with enough time to check their details and challenge any deletion. Open systems and accessible forms of claim and objection are necessary for revision.
Justice Bhuyan’s “second-class citizens” comment underlines the larger concern that voter-list corrections shouldn’t turn into voter exclusion. That’s especially important since electoral participation depends on a citizen’s name being correctly included in the relevant electoral roll.
While the debates on voter list revisions continue, keeping accurate electoral records and protecting the rights of eligible voters will be an issue. Any large-scale deletion exercise will be closely watched by political parties, civil society organizations, etc.
The concerns especially highlight the importance of citizens checking their voter information during revision exercises and using the available objection and correction mechanisms if discrepancies are detected. Real voters won’t be excluded from the electoral-roll process.
