Ruling on validity of Bihar SIR will apply in same rigour to pan-India exercise, says SC

NEW DELHI: SC Monday said its ruling on petitions challenging the validity of the special intensive revision (SIR) of Bihar electoral rolls ahead of the assembly polls in the state would apply in same rigour to EC’s decision for SIR across states from next year.As a litany of petitioners through their counsels competed to identify one or the other fault in the SIR process in Bihar, a bench of Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi, which has passed many interim orders, including treating Aadhaar as the 12th document for filing applications for inclusion or exclusion of name in voter list, said, “We will not pass piecemeal orders. We will hear the arguments on the validity of SIR in Bihar and give a final verdict.”Bengal has already challenged the EC decision to conduct SIR in the state. When counsels for states, political parties and NGOs sought adjudication on a nationwide SIR, the bench said, “Whatever we decide on petitions challenging Bihar-SIR, will be applicable to the EC decision to conduct nationwide SIR.” It posted the final hearing on petitions challenging Bihar SIR to Oct 7. Another applicant, advocate Ashwini Upadhyay, demanded a nationwide SIR, saying non-citizens and illegal migrants must not be allowed to become voters based on Aadhaar. He requested SC to modify its order directing Aadhaar to be the 12th document for filing application for inclusion or exclusion from the voter list. Upadhyay said Aadhaar is just a document for identification and cannot be proof of citizenship, a view already reiterated by the bench. SC had told EC to accept applications based on Aadhaar but empowered it to scrutinise these to determine whether the applicant seeking inclusion in voter list is an Indian citizen.For EC, senior advocate Rakesh Dwivedi said that the commission would complete by Oct 1 the scrutiny of applications received by Sept 1, and finalise the voter list. “Let EC be allowed to complete its work,” he said.When advocates Prashant Bhushan and Vrinda Grover said the entire process for conducting SIR is illegal, SC said whenever allegations made by petitioners are put to EC, a different story emerges. “If we find SIR to be illegal, then we have the power and jurisdiction to quash it,” SC said.