ECI rebuts allegations of electoral roll tampering, terms Chidambaram’s claims ‘misleading and baseless'

New Delhi, Aug 3 The Election Commission of India (ECI) has strongly rebutted allegations made by senior Congress leader P. Chidambaram regarding the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, terming them "misleading and baseless".

Chidambaram, in a social media post on X, had raised concerns over alleged disenfranchisement of 65 lakh voters in Bihar and accused the ECI of adding 6.5 lakhs of persons as voters in Tamil Nadu.

He claimed that categorising migrant workers as “permanently migrated” was both alarming and potentially illegal, further alleging political misuse of the electoral roll revision process.

Responding through its official fact-check handle on X, the ECI clarified that as per Article 19(1)(e) of the Constitution, all citizens have the right to reside anywhere in India, and Section 19(b) of the Representation of the People Act, 1950, allows a person who is an “ordinary resident” in a constituency to be registered as a voter there.

The Commission stated: “Therefore, a person originally belonging to Tamil Nadu but ordinarily residing in Delhi is entitled to be registered as an elector in Delhi. Similarly, a person originally belonging to Bihar but is ordinarily residing in Chennai is entitled to be registered as an elector in Chennai.”

Rejecting Chidambaram’s claim of "permanent migration" being a tactic to manipulate voter rolls, the ECI stressed that such categorisation aligns with legal definitions under Section 20 of the RP Act.

“As far as voters who have permanently shifted from Bihar to other states and are ordinarily resident in those states, the exact figures can be known only after the SIR has been conducted,” it said, adding, “that there is no need for political leaders to spread false information with respect to the SIR exercise being conducted by ECI at the national level".

The ECI also clarified that the SIR has not yet been implemented in Tamil Nadu, and connecting the Bihar and Tamil Nadu data at this stage was “absurd".

It urged political leaders not to spread misinformation that may obstruct or politicise a Constitutionally mandated exercise.

“Such peddling of false statements should be avoided,” the ECI asserted.

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