Ranchi: Noted economist and social activist Parkala Prabhakar on Saturday termed special intensive revision (SIR) a “bloodless political genocide”, which is likely to kick off soon in Jharkhand.In Ranchi to attend the two-day deliberations on ‘SIR and the Current State of the Electoral System’, which is being organised by Jharkhand Janadhikar Mahasabha (JJM), he said, “The entire process is being carried out in an extremely non-transparent manner, violating the Election Commission’s (EC) own rulebook. Despite this, the EC is implementing SIR.”“A process is under way to alter the country’s political structure through — SIR, delimitation, and the census.
The long-term consequences of this would be extremely serious as it would create two categories of citizens in the country — those who have the right to vote and those from whom this right is taken away,” he claimed.Around 6.5 crore voters across 10 states and 3 Union Territories have been disenfranchised so far, and the number is estimated to reach 16.5 crore across the country. Though its constitutional validity has been challenged in the Supreme Court (SC), no decision has been delivered yet, he alleged.
JJM, a conglomeration of rights bodies, said in a statement that the impact of SIR on the state would be serious as sufficient evidence exists of the lack of documents among Adivasi and Dalit communities here. “The people of Jharkhand must prepare themselves and build pressure on the EC to ensure total transparency throughout the process, and that any decision to add or remove a name must be made only through the Gram Sabha or Ward Sabha,” it read.
