All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) President Asaduddin Owaisi accused the Election Commission of India (ECI) of secretly implementing the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Bihar ahead of the upcoming state elections.
Owaisi claimed that EC’s step could stop many righful citizens from voting and harm public trust in the poll body.
In a post on X, Asaduddin Owaisi wrote, “The Election Commission is conducting NRC in Bihar through the backdoor. To be enrolled in the voter roll, every citizen will now have to show documents not only proving when and where they were born, but also when and where their parents were born. Even the best estimates state that only three-fourths of births are registered. Most government documents are riddled with errors. People in the flood-prone Seemanchal region are among the poorest; they can barely afford two meals a day. To expect them to possess their parents’ documents is a cruel joke.”
“The result of this exercise will be that a large number of Bihar’s poor will be removed from the electoral roll. Being enrolled in the electoral roll is a constitutional right of every Indian. The Supreme Court had raised serious concerns about such arbitrary procedures as far back as 1995. Initiating such action so close to elections will only weaken people’s faith in the Election Commission,” the AIMIM chief claimed.
He cited a 1995 Supreme Court ruling, which said voters cannot be removed without notice and due process. The court also said that citizenship cannot be judged only through a few documents, and all kinds of valid proof must be accepted.