Citing the experience of former Ambassador Navdeep Suri, the Congress leader raised questions on the SIR process of the Election Commission, expressed concern about the voting rights of about 10 crore adults.

Tezzbuzz Desk- Senior Congress leader and Rajya Sabha MP P. Chidambaram has raised questions on the Election Commission regarding the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the voter list. He alleged that due to this process, a new category of such citizens may be created in the country, who will be citizens but will not have the right to vote.

Chidambaram made this comment after the experience of former Indian Ambassador Navdeep Suri. Suri had expressed concern about the verification of documents to his citizenship during the ongoing SIR process in Punjab.

Former Ambassador Navdeep Suri said that despite representing India in three countries, he faced difficulty in proving his citizenship. He raised the question that when a person like him may face difficulty in this process, then how difficult can the situation be for common citizens.

According to Suri, his information did not match the 2003 voter list that was being used for verification. He told that at that time he was posted in London and hence his name could not be included in the update of the voter list during that period.

Chidambaram expressed concern about 10 crore people

Based on this experience of Navdeep Suri, P. Chidambaram targeted the SIR process of the Election Commission. He claimed that after the completion of the process, there may be about 10 percent of the adult population who will have citizenship but will not have the right to vote.

Chidambaram presented this as the Election Commission creating a new category of 'non-voting citizens'. He raised questions on transparency and problems of common citizens regarding verification of documents in the SIR process and inclusion of names in the voter list.

Voter list of 2003 became the cause of controversy

The voter list of 2003 has become an important issue in this entire controversy. Navdeep Suri says that due to his posting abroad at that time, his name could not be recorded in the updated list. In such a situation, their experience indicates that the process of verification from old records may cause problems to those people whose names were not recorded in the voter list at that time due to some reason.

Regarding SIR, the opposition is continuously demanding clarity from the Election Commission on the process, documents and rights of people left out of the voter list.