‘Eliminated 15% of population’: Ex-CEC Quraishi takes dig at SIR, questions illegal immigrant numbers

Former Chief Election Commissioner SY Quraishi criticized the Election Commission of India (ECI) for conducting the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, questioning the process's purpose and revealing its impact on the population. Quraishi expressed disappointment that the ECI has not disclosed the number of illegal immigrants identified during the SIR, which it claims was the main goal of the exercise.

He urged the commission to publicly release the figure to showcase their success, emphasizing that this accomplishment represents about 15% of India's population. Quraishi previously accused the SIR process of being "not well-intentioned," arguing that voting is a constitutional right, not a charity granted by the Election Commission.

He stated that the act of deleting millions of voters from the electoral rolls undermines democracy. The SIR is being carried out nationwide to ensure the accuracy and up-to-date nature of electoral rolls, with factors like migration and duplicate entries as the main reasons for deletions. However, the process has faced significant opposition, particularly in poll-bound states like Maharashtra, where the draft voter list revealed a discrepancy of two crore fewer voters compared to the previous electoral roll.