Election Commission asked to consider Aadhaar, voter ID, and ration cards could be used for verification in SIR
NEW DELHI — Expressing “serious doubts” over the Election Commission’s plan to hold a ‘special intensive revision’ of Bihar’s electoral rolls months before the Assembly election, the Supreme Court on Thursday posed tough questions to the poll panel including asking it to explain which section of the law — The Representation of the People Act — allowed it to conduct this exercise.
“There is either ‘summary revision’ or ‘intensive revision’. Where is ‘special intensive revision’?” the poll panel was asked.
The pertinent questions the apex court raised on the SIR were:
* Explain the panel’s authority to conduct a ‘special intensive revision’,
* Explain the validity of the review procedure, and
* Explain the timing of the exercise, i.e., just before an election.
The Supreme Court also asked the Election Commission to consider “in the interest of justice” if documents such as Aadhaar, voter ID and ration cards could be accepted for the purpose of verification of voters during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls.
A division bench of Justices Sudhanshu Dhulia and Joymalya Bagchi was dealing with a batch of petitions claiming that if the June 26 decision of the poll body directing SIR is not set aside, it can “arbitrarily” and “without due process” disenfranchise lakhs of voters from electing their representatives, and disrupt free and fair elections and democracy — a part of basic structure of the Constitution. In its order, the Justice Dhulia-led bench said that the clutch of petitions raised an “important question” which goes to the very roots of the democratic setup of the country.
Opining that the matter required a detailed hearing, the apex court asked the Election Commission to file its counter-affidavit within a week and told the petitioners to file their rejoinder affidavit, if any, before July 28.
Noting that the draft revised rolls will be published in August, the Supreme Court listed the matter for further hearing on July 28 before the regular bench. During the hearing, senior advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan, representing the petitioner side, contended that the p;oll panel’s order directing the SIR of electoral rolls in Bihar has no basis in law since the exercise fails to recognise Aadhaar and voter ID card for the purpose of verification. On the other hand, senior advocate Rakesh Dwivedi, representing the ECI, urged the apex court not to interfere with the revision exercise at this stage.
“Let the revision exercise be completed, and then your lordships may look at the entire picture,” submitted Dwivedi. He objected to the PILs filed by several NGOs and other political activists, questioning their locus standi. “None of them are voters in Bihar! Before you (SC) are some sections of people who write articles and then file petitions. I have a serious objection to this,” the poll body’s counsel said.
As per the petitioners, there was no reason for the ECI to resort to “drastic exercise” of electoral rolls revision in a poll-bound state in such a short period. The plea filed by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) said that the SIR order issued on June 24 by the ECI excluded identification documents such as Aadhaar or ration cards, making marginalised communities (such as SC, STs and migrant workers) and the poor more vulnerable to exclusion from voting.
“The documentation requirements of the directive, lack of due process as well as the unreasonably short timeline for the said Special Intensive Revision of Electoral Roll in Bihar further make this exercise bound to result in removal of names of lakhs of genuine voters from electoral rolls, leading to their disenfranchisement,” it said.
The petition claimed that the impugned SIR order requires the inclusion or retention of a voter’s name in the electoral roll upon production of citizenship documents, including proof of citizenship of either or both parents, failing which the voter is at risk of exclusion. It added that the order of poll body is illegal as it presumes ineligibility of a voter unless otherwise proved by way of providing documents (from a limited list of 11 documents) for self as well as documents of mother or father or both, and thus, ultra vires the Registration of Electors (RER) Rules, 1960. — With inputs from IANS
