Bihar Voter List Row: SC To Hear Pleas Challenging Election Commission's Decision Today

(MENAFN- Live Mint) Bihar Voter List Row: The Supreme Court will today hear the batch of petitions challenging the Election Commission of India's special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in poll-bound Bihar.

The SC bench, comprising Justices Sudhanshu Dhulia and Joymalya Bagchi, has over 10 related matters, including the SIR issue, listed for hearing on July 10

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On July 9, the top court agreed to hear a fresh plea by two social activists, Arshad Ajmal and Rupesh Kumar, challenging the poll panel's decision to undertake extensive revision of electoral rolls in the state.

The activists have said the exercise undermines the principles of free and fair elections and representative democracy, both integral features of the Constitution's basic structure , by introducing arbitrary, unreasonable and disproportionate documentation requirements related to birth, residence and citizenship.

Besides, lawyer Ashwini Upadhyay has filed a separate plea supporting the move and seeking a direction to the poll panel to conduct the SIR to ensure only Indian citizens decide the polity and policy, not the illegal foreign infiltrators.”

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The demography of 200 districts and 1,500 tehsils has changed after independence due to massive illegal infiltration, deceitful religious conversion and population explosion. Demography is destiny , and dozens of districts have already seen their destiny being shaped by those who aren't Indians," he said.

On July 7, the bench noted the submissions of lawyers led by senior counsel Kapil Sibal, who was representing several petitioners, and agreed to hear the pleas on July 10.

Sibal, who is representing RJD MP Manoj Jha , urged the bench to issue notices to the poll panel on the petitions, calling it an "impossible task" within the timeline as elections were to happen in the state in November.

Senior advocate Abhishek M Singhvi , appearing for another petitioner, said of the eight crore voters in the state, four crore voters would have to submit their documents under the exercise.

"The timeline is so strict, and if by July 25 you don't submit the documents, you will be out," Singhvi added.

Senior advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan, appearing for another petitioner, said the poll panel was not accepting Aadhaar cards and voter ID cards as proof for the exercise.

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Posting the matter on July 10, Justice Dhulia said the timeline was not sanctified at present as elections hadn't been notified yet. The bench asked the petitioners to give advance notice of their petitions to the counsel for the Election Commission of India.

Election watchdog Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) is also one of the petitioners.

Fundamental right to life and liberty

Beside RJD MP Jha and Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra , Congress' K C Venugopal, Supriya Sule from the Sharad Pawar NCP faction, D Raja from Communist Party of India, Harinder Singh Malik from Samajwadi Party, Arvind Sawant from Shiv Sena (Uddhav Thackeray), Sarfraz Ahmed from Jharkhand Mukti Morcha and Dipankar Bhattacharya of CPI (ML) have jointly moved the top court.

All leaders have challenged the Election Commission's order directing for SIR of electoral rolls in Bihar and sought direction for its quashing.

Jha, in his plea filed through advocate Fauzia Shakil, argues that the EC's June 24 order should be quashed for violating Articles 14 (fundamental right to equality), 21 (fundamental right to life and liberty), 325 (no person can be excluded from electoral roll based on caste, religion, and sex) and 326 (every citizen of India who has attained 18 years of age is eligible to be registered as a voter) of the Constitution.

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"The impugned order prescribes a schedule and requires the submission of enumeration form within 30 days, followed by filing of claims and objections and their disposal within 30 days," the plea said.

Moitra sought a direction from the apex court to restrain the EC from issuing similar orders for SIR of electoral rolls in other states of the country.

Election Commission Exercise

The poll panel's SIR exercise, which started in Bihar on June 25, has triggered a political storm. The opposition Congress has dubbed it 'a rigging attempt' orchestrated by the Election Commission under instructions from the ruling regime. At least half a dozen petitions by political parties, individuals, and civil society groups have been filed in the Supreme Court against what they call a 'blatantly unconstitutional ' exercise.

The impugned order prescribes a schedule and requires the submission of enumeration form within 30 days, followed by filing of claims and objections and their disposal within 30 days.

Opposition leaders, including Congress leader Rahul Gandhi , RJD's Tejashwi Yadav and several others of the INDIA bloc led a march to the Election Commission's office in Patna as part of the protest.

The poll panel has said that the intensified revision's objective is to ensure that the names of all eligible citizens are included in the electoral roll so as to enable them to exercise their franchise, that no ineligible voter is included in the electoral roll, and that complete transparency is introduced in the process of adding or deleting electors in the electoral roll.

(With PTI inputs)

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