CHANDIGARH: Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann on Saturday said his party would not allow even a single genuine vote to be deleted in the state under the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process. Warning against any attempt to engineer “fake votes” in favour of a particular political party, Mann asserted that AAP leaders and workers would remain stationed alongside Booth Level Officers (BLOs) at every polling booth across Punjab to monitor the exercise and prevent any irregularity. Replying to a question, he said the SIR of electoral rolls is going to start from June 15 in Punjab and said that the Election Commission of Indian should address issues raised by all political parties in this regard. “We do not want that there should be negativity be spread in Punjab that real votes are deleted and fakes votes are made, or votes of supporters of some particular party are deleted or fake votes are made. “We will ourselves monitor (SIR), our booth level agents and our volunteers will be present. Vote of an eligible citizen will not be deleted, and for which, we are in touch with the ECI,” Mann said while speaking to reporters on the sidelines of an event here. The SIR should be conducted in transparent manner, he said, adding that if any political party has a complaint, then ECI should address it. Concerns raised in several states regarding deletion of genuine votes and inclusion of fake entries have created anxiety among citizens, making it imperative for the ECI to act with utmost responsibility and neutrality. Complaints have surfaced from different states about lakhs of genuine votes being deleted and manipulation in the verification process, but the people of Punjab will not allow such practices to happen in the state,” he claimed. He urged the Election Commission (EC) to carry out the entire SIR exercise with complete honesty, transparency and impartiality while ensuring that public objections are resolved without delay. Clarifying the AAP’s stand on revision of electoral rolls, Mann said, “Names of deceased individuals or those who have permanently shifted abroad after acquiring foreign citizenship should naturally be removed from voter lists, but no genuine resident of Punjab should face harassment or denial of voting rights under any circumstances.” The CM further revealed that nearly 83 per cent voter mapping has already been completed in Punjab and urged citizens to actively participate in the verification process to safeguard their democratic rights. Punjab Chief Electoral Officer Anindita Mitra on Thursday had said under the SIR, booth level officers across Punjab will conduct door-to-door visits from June 25 to July 24 for filling voter forms. For this exercise, the entire election machinery has been deployed, including 24,453 BLOs and 2,476 supervisors. She further informed that training of BLOs and other preparatory arrangements related to the SIR exercise will be carried out from June 15 to June 24. She said the objective of the exercise is to ensure inclusion of every eligible citizen in the electoral rolls and deletion of ineligible persons from the voter list.
