Senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor has yet again differed from his party, backing the Election Commission's decision for the pan-India Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.
His remark comes amid criticism of the exercise by opposition parties, particularly concerned about potential disenfranchisement.
While speaking to the news agency ANI, Tharoor stated that the electoral rolls are "not perfect" and the poll body shall confront these matters "very openly."
The Thiruvananthapuram MP said, "Everyone who has participated in elections has known that the electoral rolls are not perfect. There are duplicates, dead voters, there are living voters who are not registered, there are people who have moved address, and who have two or three addresses in two or three different booths."
Adding, "All of these things have existed, but if it has happened on a massive scale, then it needs to be addressed. I think the Election Commission's best approach should be to confront these matters very openly. 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."
Tharoor further asserted that it is essential to maintain the credibility of the Election Commission, and if the Opposition raises some legitimate concerns, they should be addressed.
He stated further, "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."
Tharoor also talked about the recent reforms to the Goods and Services Tax (GST) by the Centre. He extended his support to the move, saying that Congress had long advocated for the reduction of tax slabs, and the current step taken by the Government is towards fairness.
He said, "Now I think it's a much fairer system and we hope it will 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 will be much better for everyone."
