NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to grant early hearing of a batch of pleas against the Election Commission 's drive for Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar .
The petitions will be heard on Thursday (July 10).
Bihar's main opposition parties, Lalu Yadav's Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and the Congress party, have also challenged the Election Commission of India's (ECI) decision to undertake Special Intensive Revision ahead of the Bihar polls.
Seeking the top court's intervention, senior advocates Kapil Sibal and AM Singhvi argued that "lakhs of votes would be disenfranchised in the revision of electoral rolls".
The Supreme Court has asked the petitioners to furnish a copy of their petition to the ECI and the Centre so that they would be able to respond to their contentions on the day of the hearing.
The Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), which has also filed a plea against the poll body's move, earlier told the court that the "decision has been taken arbitrarily with an impractical timeline and that it would disenfranchise lakhs of people, particularly from marginalised communities. This is against free and fair election".
ADR, on whose pleas SC has in the past passed multiple orders to bring in electoral reforms, said in its petition that SIR's requirement for citizenship documentation disproportionately affects marginalised communities, including Muslims, SCs, STs and migrant workers, as Aadhaar and ration cards are not acceptable. Many people who didn't have the requisite documents might not be able to procure it within the short time period fixed by EC, it said.
Last week, RJD leader Tejashwi Prasad Yadav led a delegation of the opposition INDIA bloc to meet Bihar's chief electoral officer (CEO), lodging strong objections to the ongoing special intensive revision (SIR) of the electoral roll.
The opposition claimed the Election Commission's current exercise is "impractical and anti-democratic". They demanded the inclusion of Aadhaar cards, ration cards and MGNREGA cards as valid documents for voter verification under the SIR process in Bihar.
Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Tejashwi said, "It is not possible to verify 8 crore voters in 25 days. Around 4 crore voters from Bihar live outside the state. How can they return so soon to verify their bona fides? And has the government made any arrangements to bring the migrant Biharis home for voter list verification? How will they come?"
He also pointed to personal experience. "My wife's voter ID card was made on the basis of Aadhaar card. Why is the Aadhaar card excluded from the list of documents required for the SIR in Bihar?" he asked.
The delegation comprised RJD state president Manganilal Mandal, MPs Manoj Kumar Jha and Sanjay Yadav, former minister Alok Kumar Mehta, state spokesperson Chittaranjan Gagan, Congress state president Rajesh Ram, legislative party leader Shakeel Ahmed, Sanjay Pandey, VIP's Mukesh Sahani, CPI-ML's Kumar Parvez, CPI's Ram Naresh Pandey and CPI-M's Lalan Chaudhary.
The petitions will be heard on Thursday (July 10).
Bihar's main opposition parties, Lalu Yadav's Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and the Congress party, have also challenged the Election Commission of India's (ECI) decision to undertake Special Intensive Revision ahead of the Bihar polls.
Seeking the top court's intervention, senior advocates Kapil Sibal and AM Singhvi argued that "lakhs of votes would be disenfranchised in the revision of electoral rolls".
The Supreme Court has asked the petitioners to furnish a copy of their petition to the ECI and the Centre so that they would be able to respond to their contentions on the day of the hearing.
The Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), which has also filed a plea against the poll body's move, earlier told the court that the "decision has been taken arbitrarily with an impractical timeline and that it would disenfranchise lakhs of people, particularly from marginalised communities. This is against free and fair election".
ADR, on whose pleas SC has in the past passed multiple orders to bring in electoral reforms, said in its petition that SIR's requirement for citizenship documentation disproportionately affects marginalised communities, including Muslims, SCs, STs and migrant workers, as Aadhaar and ration cards are not acceptable. Many people who didn't have the requisite documents might not be able to procure it within the short time period fixed by EC, it said.
Last week, RJD leader Tejashwi Prasad Yadav led a delegation of the opposition INDIA bloc to meet Bihar's chief electoral officer (CEO), lodging strong objections to the ongoing special intensive revision (SIR) of the electoral roll.
The opposition claimed the Election Commission's current exercise is "impractical and anti-democratic". They demanded the inclusion of Aadhaar cards, ration cards and MGNREGA cards as valid documents for voter verification under the SIR process in Bihar.
Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Tejashwi said, "It is not possible to verify 8 crore voters in 25 days. Around 4 crore voters from Bihar live outside the state. How can they return so soon to verify their bona fides? And has the government made any arrangements to bring the migrant Biharis home for voter list verification? How will they come?"
He also pointed to personal experience. "My wife's voter ID card was made on the basis of Aadhaar card. Why is the Aadhaar card excluded from the list of documents required for the SIR in Bihar?" he asked.
The delegation comprised RJD state president Manganilal Mandal, MPs Manoj Kumar Jha and Sanjay Yadav, former minister Alok Kumar Mehta, state spokesperson Chittaranjan Gagan, Congress state president Rajesh Ram, legislative party leader Shakeel Ahmed, Sanjay Pandey, VIP's Mukesh Sahani, CPI-ML's Kumar Parvez, CPI's Ram Naresh Pandey and CPI-M's Lalan Chaudhary.
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