Supreme Court won't pause Bihar voter roll review, asks poll body to consider Aadhaar
Supreme Court won't pause Bihar voter roll review, asks poll body to consider Aadhaar
M.U.H
10/07/202529
The Supreme Court refused to pause the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar, but questioned the timing of the exercise, coming months ahead of the Assembly elections. A bench of Justices Sudhanshu Dhulia and Joymalya Bagchi, however, asked the Election Commission (ECI) to consider Aadhaar, voter ID card, and ration card as valid documents during the verification drive.
Hearing a clutch of petitions challenging the ECI's decision, the court said, "We have no reason to doubt them (ECI). They are saying that let's test their credentials. The matter needs hearing. Let it be listed on July 28. In the meantime, they will not publish the draft."
The ECI has been asked to file a counter-affidavit by July 21.
A major bone of contention has been Aadhaar and voter identity cards not being included in the list of 11 indicative documents that the applicants can produce during the exercise.
The Supreme Court said the list of 11 documents mentioned by the ECI for the verification drive was not "exhaustive".
"Thus, in our opinion, it would be in the interest of justice if Aadhaar card, EPIC card and ration card be included. It is for the ECI to still decide whether it wants to take the documents or not and if it does not take, then give reasons for the same," the court said.
TIMING OF VOTER ROLL REVISION EXERCISE
The top court, however, said the timeline of the exercise was very short since Assembly elections were scheduled in November this year.
"Your (ECI) exercise is not the problem, it is the timing... Why connect SIR in Bihar to assembly elections in November? Why can't it be irrespective of elections?" the court said.
"The courts will not touch the electoral roll once they are finalised... which mens a disenfranchised person will lack the option to challenge it (the revised list) before the election," Justice Dhulia said.
However, the top court said there was nothing wrong with purging the electoral rolls through an intensive exercise in order to see that non-citizens don't remain on the rolls.
"What they are doing is a mandate under the Constitution. There is a practicality involved. They fixed the date because it was the first time after computerisation. So there is a logic," it said.
Posing three questions to the ECI, the court said, "There is no question that the issue goes to root of democracy and about the right to vote. It is not just the powers of ECI but the process adopted. The next is the timing."
Last month, the EC ordered a revision of the electoral rolls of Bihar, saying large-scale additions and deletions over the last 20 years had increased the possibility of duplicate entries. The move came under sharp criticism from the opposition, especially the Congress and the RJD.
The top court, however, said the timeline of the exercise was very short since Assembly elections were scheduled in November this year.
"Your (ECI) exercise is not the problem, it is the timing... Why connect SIR in Bihar to assembly elections in November? Why can't it be irrespective of elections?" the court said.
"The courts will not touch the electoral roll once they are finalised... which mens a disenfranchised person will lack the option to challenge it (the revised list) before the election," Justice Dhulia said.
However, the top court said there was nothing wrong with purging the electoral rolls through an intensive exercise in order to see that non-citizens don't remain on the rolls.
"What they are doing is a mandate under the Constitution. There is a practicality involved. They fixed the date because it was the first time after computerisation. So there is a logic," it said.
Posing three questions to the ECI, the court said, "There is no question that the issue goes to root of democracy and about the right to vote. It is not just the powers of ECI but the process adopted. The next is the timing."
Last month, the EC ordered a revision of the electoral rolls of Bihar, saying large-scale additions and deletions over the last 20 years had increased the possibility of duplicate entries. The move came under sharp criticism from the opposition, especially the Congress and the RJD.
"If you are to check citizenship under SIR of electoral rolls in Bihar, then you should have acted early. Purging non-citizens from the electoral rolls is the prerogative of the Home Ministry, not the Election Commission," the court said.
The EC counsel said the court could have a look at the revised voter list before it's finalised and requested that the exercise not be halted.
"Let the revision exercise be completed. And then your lordships can look at the entire picture... We will show it before it is finalised," the ECI counsel said.
