New Delhi, Sep 22 (IANS) Congress MP Karti Chidambaram on Tuesday compared the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls to Jim Crow laws of the United States, calling it “exclusionary” in nature.
His reaction comes after notices were sent to 31.63 lakh Delhi electors during the ongoing SIR.
Speaking exclusively to IANS, Karti Chidambaram said: “This SIR exercise, which the Election Commission of India has embarked on, is akin to the Jim Crow laws of the United States during segregation. This is an exclusionary exercise and not an inclusive one.”
Jim Crow laws were state and local statutes in the US—primarily in the South—that legalized and enforced racial segregation from the late 1870s until the mid-1960s.
While admitting that the electoral roll must be clear of names of those people who have either shifted out or are no longer alive, the Congress leader said: “This exercise is going well beyond that and is aimed at disenfranchising many people. The kind of onerous responsibilities it is placing on voters, who are resident and who voted in the last election, is becoming very apparent by the names who are getting notices now in Delhi.”
Referring to the notices received by senior advocate Kapil Sibal, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and former Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, he said: “This clearly points to a systemic flaw in this exercise.”
“If people are receiving notices despite living in that constituency and voting in the last election, think about how those who don’t have the articulation are being treated,” he added.
Chidambaram said the exercise must be completely overhauled, urging the Election Commission to become “more transparent” and “voter-friendly”.
“The exercise must ensure that anyone eligible to vote must not be left out,” he stated.
Meanwhile, Karti Chidambaram also spoke about Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi’s ‘Chhatron Ki Goonj’ programme, calling it a platform for youth to raise their voice.
“It is a platform through which the youth can raise their voice and articulate their concerns. And it is a good outreach which Rahul Gandhi and the Congress party have initiated,” he said.
Moreover, he defended the Leader of Opposition over a controversy regarding the ‘Chhatron Ki Goonj’ programme in Indore.
“Satire is part of political discourse. Hasn’t BJP involved itself in satire? Haven’t they mocked political leaders of other political parties? I mean, God forbid if Saturday Night Live was in India, the BJP would have perhaps arrested all of them and banned their entire show,” he said.
Earlier, a political row erupted after a comedian allegedly mocked Prime Minister Narendra Modi while sharing the stage with LoP Gandhi during the Indore event.
Further, Karti Chidambaram said the event will be “greatly welcomed” and “enthusiastically participated in” when hosted in Tamil Nadu.
When asked about the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) questions over how senior Congress leader Sonia Gandhi got her name added to the 1980 electoral rolls despite not being a citizen of India at that time, he responded by calling it a “bizarre conspiracy theory”.
–IANS
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