Top court seeks poll body's reply on alleged deletion of 65 lakh voters in Bihar
Prashant Bhushan argued before a bench comprising Justices Surya Kant, Ujjal Bhuyan, and N K Singh that it appeared Booth Level Officers (BLOs) may have independently decided to remove names, warranting further investigation.The central poll body released the draft voter list for Bihar on Friday after a month-long SIR exercise, aimed at updating amd cleaning up the electoral roll. The EC further announced that the public has one month to lodge any grievance and submit any claims, assuring them that "no name will be removed from the draft voter list without a stated reason."Justice Surya Kant noted that, according to ECI's Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), political party representatives should be provided with the voter list at the block level.In response, Bhushan claimed that the list at the block level was not shared with the representatives of political parties. "They have not conveyed. In case they have given to some political party, reasons are not given," he said.Refuting Bhushan's submissions, the central poll body clarified that the draft list has been shared with all political parties before publication to ensure a comprehensive review."Why can't you say all this in a reply? If you have supplied, please give a list of political parties to whom you have supplied, so that Mr Bhushan's client can collect information from those authorised representatives. File your reply by Saturday," Justice Kant said, as reported by Live Law.The top court is slated to hear the petitions challenging the Bihar SIR exercise on August 12.- EndsMust Watch
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