SC On Bihar SIR: Says ‘Voter list revision process is voter friendly’

The SC said that the voter has the option of 11 documents for the SIR of the voter list in Bihar, while seven documents were sought in the summary revision conducted earlier, this clearly shows that the process is voter friendly.

New Delhi: The Supreme Court heard the petitions challenging the Election Commission's decision to revise the voter list in Bihar.

During the hearing, the Supreme Court on Wednesday said that the voter has the option of 11 documents for the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the voter list in Bihar, while seven documents were sought in the summary revision conducted earlier, this clearly shows that the process is voter friendly.

Earlier Hearing
Earlier, a bench of Justice Suryakant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi heard the petitions challenging the Election Commission's June 24 decision to conduct a Special Revision (SIR) in the electoral state of Bihar. The bench said that despite the petitioners' argument that not accepting Aadhaar was unfair, but options of other documents were also given, which makes it seem that the process is really inclusive.

The bench said, 'In the summary revision done earlier in the state, the number of documents was seven and in the SIR it is 11, which shows that it is fair or reasonable for the voter. We understand your arguments that not accepting Aadhaar is not right, but the higher number of documents is really inclusive.' The apex court said that voters were required to submit any one of the 11 documents included in the list.

Singhvi's argument
Senior advocate Abhishek Singhvi, appearing for the petitioners, disagreed with this. He said that even though the number of documents is high, their coverage is the lowest. He gave the example of availability of passports with voters. Singhvi said that in Bihar it is only one to two percent. There is no provision for giving permanent resident certificate in the state. He said, 'If we look at the availability of documents with the population of Bihar, it is found that the coverage is very low.'

'Coverage of 36 lakh passport holders appears fine'
The bench said that the coverage of 36 lakh passport holders in the state appears fine. Justice Bagchi said, 'The list of documents is usually prepared after taking feedback from various government departments to ensure maximum coverage.'

What happened in the court last day?
Earlier on August 12, the apex court said that it is within the jurisdiction of the Election Commission to include or exclude citizens or non-citizens in the voter list. The court reiterated its stand of not accepting Aadhaar and voter card as proof of citizenship in the SIR of voter list in Bihar.

'Dispute largely a matter of lack of confidence'

As the controversy over SIR rages inside and outside Parliament, the apex court also said the dispute is largely a matter of lack of confidence as the Election Commission has claimed that out of the total voter population of 7.9 crore in the poll-bound state of Bihar, about 6.5 crore people or their parents were not required to file any documents for inclusion in the 2003 voter list.