Will scrap Bihar SIR exercise if...: Supreme Court's big warning to poll panel
Will scrap Bihar SIR exercise if...: Supreme Court's big warning to poll panel
M.U.H
15/09/202514
The Supreme Court on Monday said it would cancel the entire Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in poll-bound Bihar if any illegality was found in the methodology adopted by the Election Commission of India (ECI).
Hearing the matter against the survey, a bench of Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi said it was presuming that the top election body, being a constitutional authority, was following the law and mandatory rules in the conduct of the SIR.
The top court also refused to give any piecemeal opinion on the issue, making it clear that its final verdict would have pan-India implications for the SIR exercise.
The Supreme Court fixed October 7 for hearing final arguments on the validity of the SIR exercise in Bihar.
The court had, on September 8, directed that Aadhaar be treated as the twelfth valid document for inclusion in Bihar's electoral rolls during the ongoing Special Intensive Revision. The order followed complaints that election officials were refusing to accept it despite earlier instructions.
The top court overruled the Election Commission's objections, making it clear that while Aadhaar couldn't prove citizenship, it remained a legitimate proof of identity and residence.
The SIR drive has come under fire from opposition parties that allege that lakhs of genuine voters are being struck off the rolls without proper verification. They argue that the exclusion of Aadhaar from the EC's approved list of 11 documents unfairly disadvantages voters, since it is far more widely held than other IDs.
On August 18, the Election Commission published a draft list showing that 65 lakh names had been deleted as part of the SIR exercise.
It has rebuked the Opposition over its "vote chori" (vote theft) allegation and accused political parties of misleading voters while shifting blame onto the poll body.
Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar has also asked Congress leader and Lok Sabha Opposition chief Rahul Gandhi to either file an affidavit with evidence or issue a public apology for his allegations against the poll panel.
