00:00All right, Beers, you know, one thing that needs to be done is that if you are reading the SIR
00:06that is taking place in Delhi in complete isolation of what really happened in Bengal, you can't do so.
00:12And, you know, for a larger understanding of that, I want to bring in Dr. S.Y. Qureshi, former CEC.
00:18Dr. Qureshi, thank you for taking the time out and joining us this evening, sir.
00:22My first question, of course, stems from the fact that nearly 30 percent of the Delhi population has been left
00:27out of the SIR exercise.
00:29Noticers have gone to many prominent personalities.
00:32But one needs to read this in context of what has happened in Bengal in court, where what the EC
00:38has submitted, sir, is 38 lakhs more plending applications that they need to go through.
00:45And at that rate, the court itself commented it will take at least 13 years for the Election Commission to
00:53actually look into those applications.
00:55Already, these people have lost out their franchise in one election.
00:59And that would mean at least two more elections if you go by the current number of tribunals.
01:04And, sir, if you look and reflect on the number of cases that the EC has actually looked into, 91
01:11percent of the cases are legitimate and have cleared the SIR test.
01:18Yes. You know, 13 years, we have been hearing 21 years, but 13 years is as bad.
01:23And just now I heard from you that Election Commission is planning to increase the number of tribunals from 19
01:32to 41, which will be double.
01:33So that means from 12 years, it will still be six, seven years, which means one more election will be
01:39lost.
01:40So this is not a very happy situation.
02:06Because there was an attempt, you know, Dr. Qureshi, especially at the back of what's happening in Delhi.
02:12You know, one can read it on the surface and say, oh, prominent personalities are also getting notices.
02:17What about the common man?
02:19It's not so much about the prominent personalities.
02:21In West Bengal, there was an attempt to portray it as a picture of possibly Muslim voters losing their franchise
02:27and right to vote.
02:28Till a limit, it can be correct.
02:30But ultimately, it is about their right to vote and their right to franchise.
02:35And that is in itself being stalled, where the onus of proving yourself as a voter in this country is
02:41on you now, not the Election Commission anymore.
02:44Yes, exactly.
02:45In fact, West Bengal was a very special case because it was going to the poll.
02:49And the whole idea was to defeat their incumbent government there.
02:54The whole purpose seemed to be that, which has been achieved.
02:58But because I read somewhere 45,000, sorry, 45 constituencies had more deletions than 40,000, 50,000, which was
03:07more than winning margin of 4,000, 5,000, 10,000.
03:10So, obviously, that would have changed the results.
03:14And to say that you wait for, we have been advised that we wait for, if you can't vote now,
03:20we vote in the next election.
03:21And now, after hearing you, if you can't vote even in the next election, wait for another election.
03:27It's so easy.
03:29It's a walk.
03:30And who will advise?
03:31Dr. Qureshi, for once, let's even not speak of where that, you know, those voters that are still pending in
03:37terms of appeals and applications, 38 lakh of them in the state of West Bengal, on what, you know, where
03:44they would have voted, whether they would have changed the course of election.
03:46Because the EC has also mapped it down to district-wise district in terms of where the maximum appeals are
03:52coming from and what the voting margin is.
03:54Let's say that does not reflect in the results.
03:58But ultimately, it is the right to vote of an individual that would be stalled now, if not for one
04:04election, which has already happened, at least two more elections, if they haven't increased the number or if the EC
04:10doesn't increase the number of tribunals from 19 to 42.
04:13Which in itself is a task, Dr. Qureshi, because the EC earlier on in court has submitted that they don't
04:20really have the kind of judges and staff to go ahead and establish 42, you know, tribunals such as this.
04:28And from West Bengal, now you're moving into other states.
04:32You're moving into the state of Delhi, where a similar fate can happen.
04:35Then you're going into election-bound states coming next year.
04:38You have Uttar Pradesh, Punjab going into elections, which will throw similar results.
04:42Yes.
04:43You know, the concept of a tribunal for this kind of thing, we have never come across in the last
04:4875 years.
04:50And in Bengal, 19 tribunals have been set up.
04:54And even the court has advised that if your name is not there, you can go to the tribunal.
04:59As if going to the tribunal is just walking in the park.
05:03Now, look at the poor people.
05:04Every case in the tribunal is a court case.
05:08And to fight a court case, you need a lawyer.
05:10And so many court cases, about 30 lakh court cases get added only in one state.
05:18Imagine in the entire country, a crore or two crores will be almost half the pendency of the various courts.
05:26And in any case, involving the judiciary in very executive kind of a work, which electoral role is, is also
05:33not very fair to the judiciary.
05:35So, which means if an executive cannot do its work, we are the judiciary to do it.
05:40If the traffic is not operating properly, will we send up a session judge to operate the traffic?
05:47We'll have to, we must force the authority concern to do their job properly.
05:53So, now in the whole country, there will be tribunals.
05:57Every retired judge now will get an employment to that extent.
06:01They may be happy.
06:02The lawyers who are fighting these cases, they must be very happy.
06:06So, they are happy.
06:08But the people whose name has been deleted, who could not vote, will not be able to vote in the
06:13next two elections.
06:14What about them?
06:16Nobody cares.
06:17Dr. Qureshi, one quick question, sir, before we let you go.
06:19Because there are now impending states that are coming up for election.
06:23Of course, Delhi is not up for elections.
06:25It will only vote first in the general elections in 2019.
06:29And then Delhi goes to vote the following year.
06:32But what about states like Punjab, states like Uttar Pradesh?
06:37Yes.
06:38Correct.
06:38In fact, I mean, Delhi, if it is happening and the election is two years away,
06:44at least there is an opportunity to clean up the process without causing irreparable damage.
06:55But what was done in Bihar just before the election?
06:58What was done in Bengal?
06:59Same thing will happen in Bengal and UP because they are just around the corner.
07:05So, the process, two crores of votes were deleted in UP.
07:11Are there genuine elimination?
07:14Was there genuine deletion?
07:16And I've been asking a very simple, innocent question.
07:19The idea of purity of vote is extremely genuine.
07:23It's a constitutional mandate.
07:25All election commissions in the 75 years have been doing it in their own way,
07:30not in the bright way with the present dispensation is doing.
07:33Let them now give a certificate and affidavit in the Supreme Court and an assurance to the public
07:39that now that we have purified the rules in UP, Bihar, Bengal, Delhi, the other places,
07:48not one ineligible person will be found in the rule and not one eligible person will be deleted.
07:55And for which, if that happens, somebody will be criminally liable.
08:00Let them give a certificate and this kind of assurance.
08:03Now we should be sure of the purity of our electoral roll,
08:07in which previous election commissions failed successively for the last 75 years.
08:13Fair point, sir.
08:14Thank you, Dr. Qureshi, for joining us and giving us your perspective this evening.
08:17Appreciate your time.
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