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On the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, Congress MP Mallu Ravi on Tuesday demanded that the Supreme Court's directions on the exercise be applied to Telangana and other states where the process is underway.
Speaking to ANI, Mallu Ravi said that the Supreme Court had taken note of the removal of a large number of names from voter lists during the SIR exercise in Delhi and emphasised the importance of voting rights. "The Supreme Court has given a verdict saying that in Delhi SIR, a huge number of names are taken out of the list. This is all seen by the Supreme Court, and they said that the right to vote is a fundamental right, and if you don't give the right of voting, there is no meaning to democracy," he said. Referring to the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, Ravi alleged that the Congress leader had been raising the issue of "vote-chori" by the BJP government from the beginning. "That is why Rahul Gandhi, from the beginning, has been saying that this BJP government is doing 'vote-chori'. That is why we demand that the direction of the Supreme Court must be applied to Telangana and also other states where SIR is taking place," he added. Earlier, the Supreme Court on Tuesday questioned the Election Commission of India (ECI) over the basis on which persons are being issued notices under the logical discrepancies category during the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Delhi and sought the poll panels response to a batch of pleas challenging the exercise. The Court also directed the ECI to file a status report on the steps taken and asked it to follow its interim directions issued in the Bihar and West Bengal SIR matters. A bench of CJI Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice V. Mohana was hearing pleas challenging the manner in which the Delhi SIR is being conducted, including the issuance of notices to voters without disclosing the specific reason or material on which the objection is based. As per the petitioners, the draft electoral roll in Delhi excluded around 47 lakh names, while notices were issued to around 33 lakh other voters whose names remained in the draft roll. (ANI)
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