Supreme Court agrees to hear pleas against voter roll revision in poll-bound Bihar
In a statement, the Election Commission made it clear that while voters were required to "submit their documents anytime before July 25, 2025", those who failed to do so would get an opportunity "during the claims and objections period".Senior advocate and Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi sought an urgent hearing into the matter. The Supreme Court then said it would hear the pleas on Thursday and gave time to the parties to file the petitions.The lawyers for the respective parties said, with the July 25 deadline approaching, the names of lakhs of people "will be deleted from electoral rolls". They said the revision exercise will largely affect women and the poor.Following this, Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra, who filed the plea, called it Satyameva Jayate (truth alone triumphs). "Bihar SIR petition allowed in Supreme Court... Hearing on Thursday. Satyameva Jayate," she wrote on X.Earlier, RJD MP Manoj Jha sought the top court's immediate intervention in the poll body's voter rolls' revision exercise.WHY OPPOSITION IS PROTESTING AGAINST POLL BODY'S EXERCISE?The Opposition has vehemently criticised the poll panel's process, which seeks to cover nearly eight crore voters by July 25, questioning the timing of the exercise. They alleged that the move would lead to disenfranchisement of over two crore voters.RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav, Bihar's Leader of Opposition, has questioned why, unlike the previous revision, which took place in 2003 across the country, the current exercise was being carried out only in the state.Leaders of the INDIA bloc, of which the RJD is a part, have also held parleys with Election Commission officials in Delhi and Patna to share their anxieties.However, the BJP-led NDA defended the exercise, accusing the Opposition of trying to come up with an "excuse ahead of a certain defeat in elections".According to the Election Commission, the exercise was necessitated by rapid urbanisation, frequent migration, young citizens becoming eligible to vote, non-reporting of deaths and inclusion of the names of foreign illegal immigrants.advertisementThe poll panel said that with the exercise, it wanted to ensure the integrity and preparation of error-free electoral rolls.Bihar, which has 243 Assembly seats, is likely to go to the polls in October-November this year.- EndsMust Watch
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