Bihar poll rolls revision: ‘Should have acted early, it’s a bit late’, SC tells EC on citizenship check

The Supreme Court on Thursday commenced hearing on a batch of pleas challenging the Election Commission’s decision to undertake a special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in the poll-bound Bihar.

A partial working day (PWD) bench comprising Justices Sudhanshu Dhulia and Joymalya Bagchi was told by senior advocate Rakesh Dwivedi, appearing for the poll panel, that he has preliminary objections to the petitions.

Besides Dwivedi, senior advocates K K Venugopal and Maninder Singh are representing the EC.

Senior advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan, appearing for one of the petitioners, said the revision of electoral rolls can be permitted under the Representation of People Act.

The entire SIR will cover around 7.9 crore citizens, he said, adding that even the voter ID and Aadhaar cards are not being considered.

During the hearing, the EC told the Supreme Court that it has some preliminary objections to the pleas challenging the SIR of electoral rolls in poll-bound Bihar.

The top court noted what EC is doing is mandated under the Constitution, and the last such exercise was undertaken in 2003.

Meanwhile, the court questioned the poll body over the exclusion of the Aadhaar card from the list of documents accepted in the special revision of electoral rolls in Bihar.

The SC also asked the EC why it was getting into the citizenship issue, emphasising that it is the domain of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).

The EC responded by stating that citizenship is required to be checked for being a voter in India under Article 326 of the Constitution.

However, the SC observed that if the EC was to check citizenship under the SIR of electoral rolls in Bihar, it should have acted earlier, adding that it was “a bit late.”

The Supreme Court sought clarity from the Election Commission on three key aspects of the SIR of electoral rolls in Bihar: whether the poll body has the authority to conduct such a revision, the procedure followed, and the timing of the exercise.

The top court questioned why the SIR is being linked to the upcoming Assembly elections in November. “Why can’t it be irrespective of elections?” SC asked EC.

Defending the move, the EC told the court that electoral rolls must be revised over time to ensure accurate inclusion and exclusion of voter names.

“If the EC does not have the power to revise electoral rolls, then who does?” argued senior advocate Rakesh Dwivedi, appearing for the Commission.

The SC underlined the significance of the issue, calling it fundamental to the democratic process and the right to vote. The EC also assured the bench that no voter would be excluded from the rolls without being given an opportunity to be heard.

The hearing is underway.

Over 10 petitions have been filed in the SC, including one by NGO ‘Association for Democratic Reforms’, the lead petitioner.

RJD MP Manoj Jha and Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra, Congress’ K C Venugopal, NCP (SP) leader Supriya Sule, CPI leader D Raja, Samajwadi Party’s Harinder Singh Malik, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Arvind Sawant, JMM’s Sarfraz Ahmed and Dipankar Bhattacharya of CPI (ML) have also moved the top court, seeking direction for quashing the EC order.

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