NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Friday expressed surprise at the lack of political parties’ involvement in correcting names of voters deleted during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar. “We will allow online submission of claims of deleted voters with Aadhaar card or any other acceptable documents for Bihar SIR,” the bench said, as quoted by PTI.During the hearing, the Election Commission informed the court that while 85,000 new voters had been added in the ongoing revision, only two objections had been filed by booth-level agents of political parties.A bench of Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi resumed hearing a batch of petitions challenging the SIR exercise. The petitions were filed by RJD MP Manoj Jha, the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), PUCL, activist Yogendra Yadav, Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra and former Bihar MLA Mujahid Alam.The petitioners have sought to quash the ECI’s June 24 directive, which requires large numbers of voters in Bihar to submit proof of citizenship to stay on the rolls.
What happened earlier
On August 14, Election Commission uploaded details of 65 lakh deleted voters from Bihar’s draft electoral rolls on district magistrates’ websites, following a Supreme Court order. Chief election commissioner Gyanesh Kumar said the move was made “within 56 hours of the top court directive” to ensure transparency. He explained that Electoral Registration Officers and Booth Level Officers bear responsibility for the accuracy of rolls, which are shared digitally and physically with parties and the public. Draft rolls in Bihar, published on August 1, remain open for claims and objections until September 1.Defending the exercise, Kumar said it was a “matter of grave concern” that some parties were spreading “misinformation”, stressing that India’s election system is a “multi-layered, decentralised construct as envisaged by law.”During the previous hearing, the Supreme Court said it could set aside the results of the special intensive revision if illegality was proven. Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, for RJD MP Manoj Jha, argued the exclusion of 65 lakh voters was unlawful, while Prashant Bhushan accused the EC of making the rolls non-searchable. The court countered claims about lack of documents, saying “everybody possesses some certificate.” The hearing will continue, with the final rolls due on September 30.
