BJP will repeat SIR in other states if they win Bihar: Former Tripura CM

Former Tripura Chief Minister and veteran CPI (M) leader Manik Sarkar on Thursday said that if the BJP win the Assembly elections in Bihar through Special Intensive Revision (SIR), they will repeat the same process in other states as well.

Addressing a party meeting here, Sarkar said that the BJP and its allies, including Janata Dal (United), felt that the upcoming Bihar assembly polls, expected to take place in November, would not be easier; that’s why the saffron party, with the help of the Election Commission, conducted the SIR.

“If the BJP becomes successful and gets the electoral mileage in Bihar assembly polls through the ongoing SIR of the electoral rolls, the same thing would be done in the other poll-bound states -- Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Kerala, Assam and Puducherry,” claimed the former CPI (M) politburo member.

Sarkar, who was the Chief Minister of Tripura for 20 years (1998 to 2018), said that according to various reports through the SIR, names of 50 to 52 lakh people were removed from the electoral rolls, and they are mostly Muslims and Dalits.

“After a SIR last year, final electoral rolls were published in Bihar in January this year, along with other states in the country and on the basis of these rolls, the state assembly elections can be held,” he said.

Sarkar claimed that the BJP, following the RSS ideology, has been trying to run the country, destroying all democratic practices and the provisions of the Constitution.

Meanwhile, the Election Commission of India (ECI) on Wednesday told a delegation of the Tipra Motha that the SIR of the electoral rolls would be conducted across the country, party supremo Pradyot Bikram Manikya Debbarma said after meeting the poll panel.

A nine-member delegation of the TMP, led by Debbarma, met the full ECI led by Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and demanded the SIR in Tripura similar to the procedure being adopted in Bihar.

After meeting the ECI, Debbarma, a former royal scion, had told the media in New Delhi that one of the key agendas discussed was the immediate implementation of the SIR in Tripura, and the Commission has assured that the SIR would be conducted all across the country, including in Tripura.

“Illegal migration is affecting our state and the northeast, and today, if we don’t identify illegal voters, there will be no tomorrow for our next generation. The good news is that the ECI has assured the delegation (TMP) that SIR will be conducted across the country, including Tripura,” the TMP chief said.

The TMP, in a letter to the ECI, demanded to conduct the SIR of the electoral roll in Tripura be conducted, accompanied by a comprehensive door-to-door verification exercise, similar to the model recently adopted in the state of Bihar.