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Will step in if there is mass exclusion, SC tells EC on Bihar SIR
"The Election Commission of India, being a constitutional authority, is deemed to act in accordance with the law. If any wrongdoing is done, you bring it to the notice of the court. We will hear you," the court told the petitioners.
A bench of Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi fixed a timeline to hear a batch of pleas challenging the Election Commission's SIR exercise in Bihar, scheduling the hearing for 12 and 13 August.
Senior advocate Kapil Sibal and advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for the petitioners, told the court that many individuals were being excluded from the draft electoral roll due to be published on 1 August, risking the loss of their right to vote.
Bhushan submitted that the EC had claimed 6.5 million people had not submitted enumeration forms during the SIR process, having either died or permanently relocated. Senior advocate Rakesh Dwivedi, representing the EC, countered that enumeration forms could still be submitted after the draft list's publication.
The bench directed both parties—the petitioners and the EC—to file their written submissions by 8 August.
On Monday, the Supreme Court had refused to stay the publication of the draft electoral rolls in poll-bound Bihar. However, it allowed the EC to continue accepting Aadhaar and voter ID cards during the SIR process, stating these documents have 'some sanctity.'
The court is hearing petitions challenging the EC's 24 June directive ordering a special intensive revision of the electoral rolls in Bihar.
Under this directive, voters not listed in the 2003 electoral roll are required to submit documents proving their citizenship. Additionally, individuals born after December 2004 must furnish the citizenship documents of both parents, with further requirements if a parent is a foreign national.
The court earlier observed that the petitions raise 'an important question which goes to the very root of the functioning of democracy in the country—the right to vote.'
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