Will SC stay SIR in poll-bound Bihar? Top court to hear INDIA bloc's pleas today

The Supreme Court will hear a bunch of petitions filed by the opposition against the special intensive revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls in Bihar on Thursday. The opposition has sought quashing of the exercise, accusing it of being in violation of constitutional principles.

 

A two-member bench comprising Justices Sudhanshu Dhulia and Joymalya Bagchi will hear about 10 petitions filed in connection with the matter.  RJD MP Manoj Jha, Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra, Congress' K.C. Venugopal, Supriya Sule from the Sharad Pawar NCP faction, D. Raja from Communist Party of India, Harinder Singh Malik from Samajwadi Party, Arvind Sawant from Shiv Sena (Uddhav Thackeray), Sarfraz Ahmed from Jharkhand Mukti Morcha and Dipankar Bhattacharya of CPI (ML) have moved the apex court against the exercise. 

 

Besides them, several NGOs have also moved the Supreme Court against the electoral roll revision drive in poll-bound Bihar. The petitioners moved the top court on July 7 and sought an urgent hearing of the matter. The petitioners had sought an interim stay on the revision process, but the Court refused to grant it. 

 

 

Meanwhile, lawyer Ashwini Upadhyay has filed a separate plea supporting the move. The lawyer has sought the Supreme Court to direct the Election Commission to conduct the intensive revision drive "to ensure only Indian citizens decided the polity and policy, not the illegal foreign infiltrators".

The lawyer charged that population demography has changed in 200 districts and 1,500 tehsils after independence due to massive illegal infiltration, deceitful religious conversion and population explosion. 

 

A battery of lawyers led by senior advocate Kapil Sibal represented the petitioners in the top court on July 7. The petitioners argued the exercise was violative of Articles 14 (fundamental right to equality), 21 (fundamental right to life and liberty), 325 (no person can be excluded from electoral roll based on caste, religion and sex) and 326 (every citizen of India who has attained 18 years of age is eligible to be registered as a voter) of the Constitution. They also charged the poll body was not accepting voter ID cards and Aadhaar as proof.

 

According to the poll body, the intensive exercise is being conducted after over two decades to weed out ineligible names and ensure only eligible citizens are included in the electoral roll ahead of the crucial Bihar Assembly elections at the end of 2025. Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar said on Wednesday that voters were taking part enthusiastically in the exercise. He added, till Wednesday, they have successfully collected enumeration forms from more than 57 per cent of electors.

 

The opposition conducted widespread protests against the exercise in Bihar on Wednesday. Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, on Wednesday charged, "The Maharashtra Assembly elections were rigged to favour the BJP and the NDA. They want to repeat it in Bihar, which we will not allow."

 

India