"Electoral rolls not perfect; EC must confront issues transparently": Shashi Tharoor on SIR exercise

Thiruvanathapuram (Kerala) [India], September 8 (ANI): Congress MP Shashi Tharoor on Sunday said the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise being conducted by the Election Commission of India (ECI) was "essential," as electoral rolls were not perfect. He added that the best approach for the Election Commission of India (ECI) would be to address such matters in an open and transparent manner.
"Everyone who has participated in elections has known that the electoral rolls are not perfect. There are duplicates, dead voters, and living voters who are not registered. Additionally, there are people who have moved to a new address and have two or three addresses in two or three different booths. All of these things have existed, but if it has happened on a very big scale, then they need to be addressed. I think the election commission's best approach should be to confront these matters very openly," Tharoor told ANI.
He further stated that with advancements in digital technologies, the process of cleaning and updating electoral rolls could now be made more efficient and reliable, emphasising the importance of conducting an SIR annually to remove any doubts.
"Fortunately, nowadays our digital technologies have improved so much that you can develop an algorithm to go through all the voter registrations, flag every duplicate thing, raise certain questions, do I think a revision every few years is essential, maybe every year even. But let's use modern computer technology and do it efficiently and make sure that no one has any doubt," he added.
Tharoor stressed that maintaining the credibility of the Election Commission was crucial and that any legitimate concerns raised by the opposition should be addressed fairly.
"It's in the interest of the election commission's own credibility that no voter should have any doubt in their minds and hearts about the fairness of the election...Challenges there are, and no one is going to achieve perfection. But we can certainly respond, I hope in a fair manner, to the legitimate concerns and the legitimate questions asked by the opposition," he further added.
Extending his support to the Centre's recent reforms to the Goods and Services Tax (GST) structure, Tharoor said the Congress had long advocated for reducing the number of tax slabs, and the current system was a move towards fairness.
"Now I think it's a much fairer system and we hope it'll be much better for everyone." "We in the Congress party have been asking for this for many years. I think our leaders have been flagging the need to go from four rates to at least just two, or ideally one, one day, because this is actually unfair to people. When you had four rates, it was confusing, it was difficult. People were not happy about this. So now I think it's a much fairer system and we hope it'll be much better for everyone..." Tharoor said.
On the recent controversy involving a post by the Kerala Congress unit comparing 'Bidi' and 'Bihar', Tharoor said the matter had been settled and there was no need to revisit it.
"That is over now. I don't want to berate the point; it's been taken down. I think whatever has to be said about that has been said already," he said. (ANI)