Electoral roll revision in Bihar: SC grills Election Commission

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday grilled the Election Commission of India (ECI) for its Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar, just months before polls in the state. The court also urged the poll body to consider including Aadhaar cards, voter ID cards, and ration cards as valid documents for voter enumeration, Hindustan Times reported.

A bench of Justices Sudhanshu Dhulia and Joymalya Bagchi questioned the timing chosen to run the exercise.

Justice Dhulia said, "If you are to check citizenship under SIR of electoral rolls in Bihar, then you should have acted early; it is a bit late," PTI reported.

The court said that SIR “went to the root of the democracy."

The court also said, "We are of the prima facie view that Aadhaar cards, voter ID cards and ration cards be allowed in the special intensive revision of electoral rolls,”

Later, the counsel for ECI argued in the court that everyone should be an Indian citizen and that Aadhaar is no proof of citizenship. The counsel also argued that with the passage of time, electoral rolls need to be revised to look into the inclusion or exclusion of voter names, with the SIR being the one exercise to do it.

He asked if the ECI did not have the power to revise the electoral roll, then who did?

Later, the top court allowed the ECI to continue with its SIR of electoral rolls in the state, terming it a “constitutional mandate”.

We are not thinking of stopping you because it is a constitutional mandate," the bench told ECI’s counsel.

Noting that none of the petitioners, including leaders of 10 opposition parties, prayed for an interim stay of the poll panel's exercise, the bench sought a response on the batch of petitions and posted the hearing on July 28.

The ECI, the bench said, should file a counter affidavit to the petitions by July 21, and rejoinders should be filed by July 28.