Focus on 'en masse inclusion, not exclusion' in voter list update, Supreme Court tells ECI
Supreme Court
on Monday asked the
Election Commission of India
(ECI) to focus on "en masse inclusion" instead of "en masse exclusion" in the ongoing
Special Intensive Revision
(SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar. The top court again asked the poll body to reconsider including Aadhaar and Election Photo Identity Card (EPIC) as admissible documents in the list of acceptable documents to prove identity of voters in the revision of electoral rolls.
A division bench comprising Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi, however, refused to stop the ECI from publishing the draft electoral rolls for Bihar on August 1 as per the schedule notified for SIR.
Speaking for the bench, Justice Kant verbally remarked that "it is only a draft exercise". He added "it does not take away our power" to quash the entire roll if found erroneous in future. "Trust us... as soon as we know anything is wrong, we will quash everything," Justice Kant added, saying that the "interpretation" needs to be decided.
Speaking on the exclusion of Aadhaar and EPIC, the senior SC judge orally observed that "any document on this earth can be forged. Tomorrow, you may see that not only Aadhaar but out of eleven (list of acceptable documents), other documents can also be forged. That is a separate issue. We will deal with it on a case to case basis." Urging the ECI to include the two cards in the list of acceptable documents, Justice Kant added: "Aadhaar and EPIC have a presumption of correctness."
Questioning the counsel for ECI on exclusion of Aadhaar and voter cards, Justice Bagchi weighed in, saying, "You say none of the documents are conclusive as per SIR notification... suppose someone uploads the form with Aadhaar, why will you not include it in the draft?" The counsel for ECI contended that there are large scale issues with ration cards. He also said that EPICs also cannot be conclusive. The bench, however, questioned the poll body's stand.
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The SC adjourned the matter on account of paucity of time. The top court asked the counsels for the petitioners and ECI to give a timeline of their submissions following which the court will post the matter for final adjudication.
At the last hearing earlier this month, the SC had refused to stay the SIR of electoral rolls being undertaken in Bihar. Referring to the ECI, the top court had said it "cannot stop a constitutional body" from conducting a "democratic process" and that it "will not second guess" the ECI.
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