Indore (Madhya Pradesh) [India], November 5 (ANI): Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) General Secretary Dattatreya Hosabale on Wednesday said the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls should not be turned into a political issue, arguing that the process of removing ineligible entries should be carried out periodically.
Speaking to reporters, Hosabale said political parties were entitled to pursue their own agendas in a democracy, but opposing a process without examining the facts was not constructive.
"Political parties have a habit of operating according to their own agendas. That is their prerogative—this is a democracy, after all—but opposition for the sake of opposition alone is not constructive. One should examine the facts before taking a stand," he said.
Referring to the electoral rolls, Hosabale said the presence of names of deceased persons and duplicate registrations made the lists unnecessarily large. He also raised concerns over the inclusion of names of people who were not Indian citizens.
"Currently, there are 13 crore names on the list, yet many of those individuals are no longer alive. It is not appropriate for such names to remain. Many people have their names registered in two locations. While they cannot vote in both places, such entries make the electoral roll unnecessarily bloated," he said.
He added that the inclusion of non-citizens in electoral rolls could pose risks to the country's economic interests and social security.
Hosabale said electoral rolls should be periodically refined and names that were not eligible for inclusion should be removed.
"This process of refinement should be carried out periodically; names that have no business being on the list—those that do not belong there—should be removed. I fail to see why this should be a matter of politics," he said.
He further urged political leaders to focus on issues they considered relevant to their agendas, adding that opposition to the SIR process did not make sense to him.
"It would be better for political figures to raise their voices on issues that are actually appropriate for their agendas. Having observed politics for many years, I believe it is better to focus on the right issues. Regarding the issue of the SIR, it simply makes no sense," he added.
His remarks came after the INDIA bloc on November 1 organised a mega rally at Ramlila Maidan in New Delhi, against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and over the alleged irregularities in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. (ANI)
"Political parties operate as per their own agendas": RSS general secretary Dattatreya Hosabale on SIR
