'With arrival of SSR, SIR has become zero': Akhilesh Yadav’s swipe at EC’s new revision exercise in 17 states

Lucknow, October 16 (IANS) Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav on Friday trained guns at the Election Commission’s new drive titled Special Summary Revision (SSR), stating that it has made the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) "null and void"."SIR (voter revision drive) has become zero because SSR has arrived. Isn't that correct? If the SSR exercise is being conducted, then SIR has become zero now,” Akhilesh Yadav alleged in his address at a gathering here.The SSR exercise was rolled out by the poll panel on Thursday. In a notification, the EC directed the special revision of electoral rolls in 17 states and Union Territories and also mandated, for the first time, sharing of "machine-readable" versions of voter lists with the political parties.The SP supremo, taking potshots at the SSR exercise, presented a young voter with multiple registrations in different districts, questioning the efficacy of the drive."This young man did not even know how many voter registrations existed in his name. He applied for only one. Look at the gift that the BJP has given him by colluding with the Election Commission," Akhilesh Yadav said.Notably, the machine-readable/PDF list of electoral rolls has long been a pending demand of political parties. With the new directives, the panel officials will now provide copies of draft and final electoral rolls to political parties not in image format but in ‘machine-readable’ PDF format.The SP supremo, unconvinced with the EC's new revision exercise, remained unsparing in his criticism of the EC and accused it of conspiring with the ruling BJP dispensation for facilitating ‘vote chori’.He said that when the EC’s wrongdoings were caught during the voter revision exercise across poll-bound states under the SIR, they called it a "minor mistake", "but this is not an erroneous step but a conspiracy and plot to loot the mandate of people"."The protest is taking place because their (EC and BJP) theft is being exposed and their actions are being uncovered. Why are they trying to steal votes? Why are they engaging in theft, conspiracies and manipulation through SIR or SSR?" Akhilesh Yadav asked.Notably, the SSR drive will be held in 17 states and UTs, where the polling has been completed. According to EC officials, the elections in these states are scheduled next year.The SSR, an annual exercise, seeks to enrol new eligible voters and update the electoral rolls. Under this, the applicants aren’t expected to submit documents to prove their citizenship or get mapped through previous electoral rolls.