Cannot accept that a poor person on account of their poverty is excluded from final elector roll: Owaisi
Hyderabad parliamentarian Asaduddin Owaisi on Wednesday said no genuine elector should be excluded from the special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls merely because they
Hyderabad parliamentarian Asaduddin Owaisi on Wednesday said no genuine elector should be excluded from the special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls merely because they are poor or lack the required documentation even as he asserted that such exclusion was unacceptable regardless of the person’s religion. “As a member of Parliament, and a soldier of my party, I cannot accept that a poor person owing to their poverty, and due to lack of documentation is not included [in the SIR]. Irrespective of to which religion that person belongs,” Mr. Owaisi said during an event at the party headquarters in Darussalaam.
He said that the AIMIM had constituted a team of lawyers to assist those who receive notices during the SIR process. Urging the public to complete the exercise without fail, he explained how to fill the enumeration form and repeatedly appealed to electors to submit the forms to their respective booth level officers (BLOs) before July 20. Owaisi said the Telangana government already possessed several datasets connected to residents of the State, and expressed hope that his request, that of issuing permanent citizenship certificates, would be seriously considered and these documents issued. Underscoring that every genuine elector must be included in the final electoral roll, he warned that the exclusion of eligible voters could have serious consequences.
He maintained that the Election Commission of India would forward names to the ‘competent authority’ which was the Home Ministry, led by Amit Shah, and expressed concerns that tribunals could be constituted. If this happens, he said that people could be asked to prove their citizenship. The All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen said that mosques were being demolished and madrassas shut down in different parts of the country. Citing media reports on proposed anti-radicalisation measures, he criticised what he described as attempts to portray routine religious practices, including offering namaz and observing itikaf in Ramzan, as signs of radicalisation. He said that those who attack women wearing the veil, assault men with beards in trains, and engage in mob lynching were the ones who should be described as radicalised.
He alleged that such policies targeted a particular community and would not succeed. Owaisi also referred to rainfall deficit in Telangana. He pointed out that metereologists had attributed them to the El Nino effect. He announced that Namaz-e-Istisqa, the special prayer for rain, would be offered at Eidgah Bilali on July 26 at 9 am.
The BriefWire