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Kolkata: Economist Parakala Prabhakar on Saturday claimed that the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls means that it is the government choosing the voters instead of the other way round.

He also alleged that the aim of the SIR is to weed out ‘those people’ who the government thinks should not have been in the country.

The SIR, which is being done in 12 states including West Bengal by the Election Commission, has “serious implications for the country’s constitutional values, constitutional spirit and constitutional morality,” Prabhakar said, while addressing a press conference organised by a group named ‘The Educationists’ Forum, West Bengal’, considered a pro-TMC forum.

“With SIR, it is the government choosing the voters instead of voters choosing the government,” he claimed.

The economist and political commentator asserted that the SIR came into being since the government could not go ahead with the NRC exercise owing to massive protests.

“It is nothing but a rearguard action… backdoor entry of NRC-CAA in the form of SIR to weed out those people (who) in their view should not have been here,” he said.

“When somebody is disenfranchised, taken out of the political community, they become second-class citizens,” Prabhakar said, claiming that this is the fundamental aim of the SIR.

Prabhakar also alleged that SIR targets to eliminate the names of people from the electoral rolls who are from the marginalised, uneducated or minority communities.

He claimed that the Bihar assembly elections is an example of this and that it is surprising that the opposition parties could manage to win some seats in the state.

Prabhakar alleged that the names of those likely to vote for the ruling dispensation in Bihar were “retained” in the SIR exercise done in the state prior to the assembly polls.

Claiming that Bihar SIR of electoral rolls was only a test case, political scientist Yogendra Yadav asserted that the special intensive revision of electoral rolls is really meant for West Bengal.

“The SIR is not a revision of voter list; it is rewriting of the voter list,” he said addressing the press conference.

Yadav said he appeals to West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee to ensure that no legitimate citizen is left out of the electoral rolls.

He said that this is not a repeat of the 2002 exercise as the Election Commission of India is claiming, and maintained that people did not have to fill up any form or provide documents to commission officials then as is being done now.

“The SIR is not any attempt to clean up the voter list, but is a votebandi exercise,” he said, claiming that it is in effect undermining the universal adult franchise.

To a question, Yadav claimed that it is not for the BJP to draw a distinction as to who is an infiltrator and who is a refugee.

“It is for the law and the courts to decide who is an infiltrator and who is a refugee,” he said.