EC cracks whip on absconders, orders seizure of voting rights

About 23,000 non-bailable warrants are pending in Bihar alone

In a move that could have far-reaching effects on Bihar politics, the Election Commission today directed the state government to delete from the electoral rolls names of people against whom non-bailable warrants could not be executed for more than six months.

This means that those who have been declared proclaimed offenders or absconders will neither be allowed to vote nor contest elections as candidates.

"The Election Commission has decided that the names of all those persons against whom non-bailable warrants could not be executed for more than six months, which would mean that those persons are not ordinarily resident at least for the last six months at their given addresses, should be deleted by electoral registration officers (EROs) concerned by taking suo motu action under Section 22 of the Representation of People's Act 1950," the poll panel said in a press note today.

There are about 23,000 non-bailable warrants pending in Bihar as on 14 July. At one stroke these people will now no longer be able to vote or contest elections as candidates.

The most famous case of a non-bailable warrant that could not be executed belonged to erstwhile Bihar and now Jharkhand. Former Union Coal Minister Shibu Soren had a non-bailable warrant against him that had been pending for 17 years.

Observing that electoral registration officers would take action after following the laid down procedure, the poll panel asked the state government to furnish to the chief electoral officer by 19 August, a complete list of people giving the full details of their residential addresses, against whom the non-bailable warrants had remained unexecuted for more than six months.

Concerned over the large number of unexecuted non-bailable warrants and low recovery of illegal arms and ammunition in the election-bound Bihar, the poll panel had earlier directed the state administration to step up efforts in this regard.

Under Section 22 of the Representation of People's Act, the name of a person who had ceased to be ordinarily resident in the constituency could be deleted by the electoral registration officer at any time before the last date for the nomination of candidates from the constituency, the poll panel said.

Observing that the whole matter had been carefully examined by the commission, it said one of the essential qualifications for contesting an election to Parliament or state legislature was that the person aspiring to be a candidate must be registered as a voter in a constituency.

And one of the essential conditions to be eligible for enrolment as a voter in any constituency was that he must be ordinarily resident in that constituency, the commission press note said.

"A person who is absent from his given address for long periods and is not available to, or traceable by, the police authorities and the agencies entrusted with the task of executing the non-bailable warrant against him can, as a logical consequence, be presumed to be not ordinarily resident at that address," the press note said.

In such a case, the person concerned could not validly claim that his name should continue to be registered in the electoral roll at the mentioned address, the poll panel said.

"It is common knowledge that many of these proclaimed offenders/absconders have been contesting elections," the poll panel said.