NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Friday permitted Aadhaar as a valid document for applicants seeking inclusion in the electoral list of poll-bound Bihar following special intensive revision.A bench of justices Suryakant and Joymala Bagchi directed the Elections Commission to accept application of voters who were excluded in the draft electoral list through online mode and said that the physical submission of forms is not necessary.
What did SC say
- The top court also said that claim forms can be submitted along with Aadhaar card or any other 11 acceptable documents.
- “We will allow online submission of claims of deleted voters with Aadhaar card or any other acceptable documents for Bihar SIR,” the bench said.
- The bench also instructed the 12 recognised political parties in Bihar to instruct their booth level agents (BLAs) to assist the persons in their respective booths for the submission of the forms.
- “All the political parties shall file the status report by the next date of hearing on the claim form they had facilitated in filing by excluded voters,” the bench added.
- The top court also expressed surprise that only two objections were filed from the political parties despite having 1.6 lakh BLAs.
- “What we are surprised to see is that 1.6 lakh BLAs have so far filed only two objections. On the other hand, some political parties submitted that the BLAs are not being permitted to submit their objections,” the bench noted.
- However, Kapil Sibal and Abhishek Manu Singhvi accused the Election Commission officers of not acknowledging the objections given by the parties’ BLAs.
- The bench directed the election officials to furnish an acknowledgement receipt to the booth level agents of the political parties, who submit the claim forms of excluded voters physically.
- Senior advocate Rakesh Dwivedi, appearing for the poll panel, urged the court to give the ECI a 15-day window to show there was no exclusion. “The political parties are making hue and cry and things are not bad. Repose faith in us and give us some more time. We will be able to show you there are no exclusions,” Dwivedi said.
The Supreme Court is dealing with a bunch of petitions challenging poll body special intensive revision of Bihar’s electoral rolls ahead of the state’s Assembly elections.On August 14, the top court directed the poll panel to publish by August 19 details of the 65 lakh voters excluded from the draft electoral rolls in poll-bound Bihar to enhance “transparency” .Observing that the EC should put at rest the “narrative being built” against it, the bench had also ordered that the details should include reasons for their non-inclusion during the ongoing SIR exercise. “Transparency will create voter confidence.”The revision of the voters’ list in Bihar–the first since 2003–has sparked a huge political row. The SIR’s findings have reduced the total number of 7.9 crore registered voters in Bihar, from before the exercise, to 7.24 crore.