ALIFA questions ECI's rejection of its plea on gender justice in SIR

By A Representative 

The All India Feminist Alliance (ALIFA), a constituent of the National Alliance of People's Movements (NAPM), has issued a rejoinder to the Election Commission of India (ECI), urging it to reconsider its response to the alliance's earlier representation on gender justice concerns arising from the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.

In a letter addressed to the Chief Election Commissioner and Election Commissioners on July 10, ALIFA expressed dissatisfaction with a response it received from the ECI's Public Grievance Redressal System (PGRS) Cell on July 3. According to the alliance, the PGRS Cell informed it that its submission was "not related to the Election Commission of India" and therefore could not be processed, while directing it to the Commission's helpline.

ALIFA argued that its representation was directly related to the SIR process, which it said is being conducted by the ECI under Article 324 of the Constitution and the Representation of the People Act, 1950. The organisation maintained that concerns regarding the impact of the revision process on the voting rights of women and transgender persons fall squarely within the Commission's jurisdiction.

The alliance stated that its submission was not an individual voter grievance but a collective representation highlighting what it described as the disproportionate exclusion and documentation challenges faced by women and transgender persons during the electoral roll revision. It said that a standardised administrative response from the PGRS Cell did not address the substantive issues raised.

In its rejoinder, ALIFA questioned how its representation could be considered unrelated to the Commission's work and asked the ECI to clarify which authority, if not the Election Commission, was responsible for addressing concerns arising from the Special Intensive Revision.

The organisation also noted that the Election Commission had been a respondent before the Supreme Court in petitions concerning the SIR exercise and said that the Commission had appointed state-level observers in several states to address issues faced by voters during the revision process.

ALIFA has requested that its July 3 submission be placed before the Chief Election Commissioner, the Election Commissioners, and officials overseeing the SIR process. It has sought a substantive response to the issues it raised instead of what it described as an administrative closure.

Describing the matter as time-sensitive, the alliance said the ongoing revision could affect the voting rights of a large number of electors and urged the Commission to respond at the earliest.