Not interdicting Election Commission power on SIR: Supreme Court

Time of India

20 hours ago

New Delhi: "We want transparency in the entire process (of special intensive revision of electoral rolls) as an adult has a constitutional right to be included in the voters list and with a consequential statutory right to vote," the Supreme Court said on Thursday while directing Election Commission to publish names of deleted voters in Bihar along with reason for deletion.
EC had earlier argued that there was no statutory obligation for it to make public the details of deletions. It had also pointed out that the details were with booth level officers and had been shared with political parties. On Thursday, the bench persuaded the poll body to relent on its stand by suggesting that transparency will blunt the allegations against SIR.
"We are not interdicting EC's power to conduct SIR. But we want transparency in the entire process of revision of electoral rolls.
If you (EC) publish the names of 65 lakh voters with reason for deletion from the draft list and provide a fair opportunity to the aggrieved persons to take remedial measures, it will counter a certain narrative that is being spread," the bench of Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi said.
The bench also said Aadhaar was to be accepted as identity proof for deleted voters who seek inclusion of their names, as Aadhaar is the most easily available identity document.
"(EC's) list of 11 documents seems citizen-friendly, but Aadhaar and EPIC are readily available... your notice can say that those who have not submitted so far, they can submit their Aadhaar and EPIC also," Justice Bagchi said.
The bench asked EC, represented by senior advocate Rakesh Dwivedi, to give wide publicity to uploading of booth-wise list of deleted names in the websites of chief electoral officer as well as district electoral officer; and, display of the printed list in panchayat and block offices by issuing advertisements in layman's language in vernacular and English newspapers as well as on radio and television.
"We want Poonam Devi and Anita Devi to know which website is to be accessed to find whether their names are in the voter list," the bench said.
The data uploaded in the CEO and DEO websites should be searchable through EPIC number, the bench said, and directed EC to file a compliance report by Aug 22, the next date of hearing.
After SIR, EC had produced a draft roll containing 7.24 crore voters and revealed that approximately 65 lakh had been deleted from the existing voters list.
The 65 lakh included 22 lakh dead voters, 36 lakh who have permanently migrated outside Bihar and 7 lakh whose names were found included in voters lists for multiple constituencies. Aadhaar will now be considered by Election Commission as an identity proof for any of the voters for inclusion in the voter list if they figured among the list of deleted names.
At the commencement of EC's turn to respond to the two-day-long caustic arguments against SIR and deletion of 65 lakh voters, Dwivedi said EC does not claim to be either omnipotent or impotent when it comes to revising the voters list, which is sine qua non for a fair election.
"But those who lose elections always need an excuse. If they win, EVM is fantastic. But if they lose, they raise hundred questions about EVM's fairness. Though the SC has settled the fairness of EVMs through a series of judgments, the narratives of those who lose elections would continue and neither the Supreme Court nor EC can stop it," Dwivedi said.