ECI abusing its powers, must be fought politically, legally: P Chidambaram

Amid the raging row over the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls in Bihar, senior Congress leader P Chidambaram on Sunday alleged that the Election Commission is trying to change the electoral character and patterns of states, and asserted that this "abuse of powers" must be fought politically and legally.

The former home minister said the Bihar voter revision exercise is getting curiouser and curiouser.

While 65 lakh voters are in danger of being disenfranchised in Bihar, reports of 'adding' 6.5 lakh persons as voters in Tamil Nadu is alarming and patently illegal, Chidambaram said in a post on X.

"Calling them 'permanently migrated' is an insult to the migrant workers and a gross interference in the right of the electorate of Tamil Nadu to elect a government of its choice," the Rajya Sabha MP said.

Why should the migrant worker not return to Bihar or his/her home state to vote in the State Assembly election, as they usually do, Chidambaram asked.

"Does not the migrant worker return to Bihar at the time of the Chhath puja festival?" he said.

"A person to be enrolled as a voter must have a fixed and permanent legal home. The migrant worker has such a home in Bihar (or another state). How can he/she be enrolled as a voter in Tamil Nadu?" Chidambaram said.

If the migrant worker's family has a permanent home in Bihar and lives in Bihar, how can the migrant worker be considered as "permanently migrated" to Tamil Nadu, he further asked.

"The ECI is abusing its powers and trying to change the electoral character and patterns of States. This abuse of powers must be fought politically and legally," Chidambaram said.

The opposition has been protesting in both Houses of Parliament against the SIR, alleging the EC's exercise was aimed at "disenfranchising voters" in Bihar ahead of the Assembly elections. They have been demanding a discussion on the issue in both Houses of Parliament.