RJD MP Moves Supreme Court Against Bihar Electoral Roll Revision, Asks Why Aadhaar Card Not Accepted By ECI

RJD MP Manoj Jha has filed a writ petition in the Supreme Court challenging the Election Commission of India's decision to hold a "Special Intensive Revision" of electoral rolls in Bihar, contending that the process is "not only hasty and ill-timed, but has the effect of disenfranchising crores of voters, thereby robbing them of their constitutional right to vote."According to Jha, the decision, which has been taken without any consultation with the political parties, is "being used to justify aggressive and opaque revisions of electoral rolls that disproportionately target Muslim, Dalit and poor migrant communities, as such, they are not random patterns but are engineered exclusions."He points out that as per the settled law, the burden of proving citizenship of a person lies with the State and not the person concerned. After the initiation of the present SIR process, an overwhelming majority (about 4.74 crore out of 7.9 crore on the current Electoral Roll) carry a disproportionately high burden of proving their citizenship with the help of proofs of date and place of birth.He questions the wisdom of undertaking this process in a State having large number of migrant workers and illiterate persons beset by poverty, when the assembly elections are just a few months away. The 11 documents which are specified by the ECI to establish citizenship are not the kind of documents which poor and illiterate persons might possess. The ECI also does not accept Aadhaar card, MNREGA job cards or ration cards, he underscores."The express exclusion of Aadhar that has maximum coverage in Bihar with data showing that 9 out of 10 persons in Bihar have an Aadhar is manifestly arbitrary," the petitioner states. The petition also cited a report of The Indian Express titled "In Village after village in Bihar, a chorus: 'We only have Aadhaar…how do we thpapers EC asking for?'.Reference was also made to The Hindu report "'Voter verification drive in Bihar: too little time, too many hurdles'He highlights the issues with the documents specified by the ECI as follows.1. Any Identity card/ Pension Payment Order issued to regular employee/ pensioner of any Central Govt./ State Govt./ PSUAs per the 2022 caste census, only 20.49 lakh people of Bihar have government jobs. Fewer than half of them will be from the 18-40 age group (who have to produce the documents since they were not included in the 2003 rolls).2. Any Identity Card/Certificate/Document issued in India by Government/ local authorities/Banks/Post Office/LIC/PSUs prior to 01.07.1987.A small amount of population is required to provide this document. This document is not applicable for the latter two categories of population (born before July 1, 1987 and born between July 1, 1987, and December 2, 2004)3. Birth Certificate issued by the competent authority.Negligible population possesses these documents. Even though Bihar's birth registration rate has progressively increased, but even in 2007— those born in this year will be 18 years ofnage and eligible to vote in 2025 — only 7.13 lakh births were registered. This was one-fourth of the estimated births in Bihar that year.4. Passport Around 2.4% of Bihar's population possesses a passport.5. Matriculation/ Educational certificate issued by recognised Boards/ universitiesThis document becomes the main identity proof as the National Family Health Survey and National Family Health Survey provide that around 45-50% of 18-40- year-olds are matriculated. As per Bihar Caste Survey 2022, 14.71% of the state have graduated from Class 10.6. Permanent Residence certificate issued by competent State authorityNegligible population of the eligible voters have this certificate. Usually students apply for domicile certificate for applications to colleges.7. Forest Right Certificate The share of Scheduled Tribes (ST) in Bihar is 1.3%, according to the 2011 Census. Of them, those living in forests form a much lower share.8. OBC/SC/ST or any caste certificate issued by the Competent authorityIndia Human Development Survey 2011-12 recorded that around 20% of SCs, 18% of OBCs, and 38% STs had a caste certificate. Considering that almost no upper castes possess caste certificates, around 16% of Biharis possessed a caste certificate in 2011-12 when this survey was conducted.9. National Register of Citizens (wherever it exists)This is applicable solely to Assam.10. Family Register, prepared by State/ Local authorities.This is also not applicable to Bihar.11. Any land/house allotment certificate by GovernmentThere is no data available on land allotment certificates. House allotment certificates seem applicable to government employees availing government housing.No such certificate is given to beneficiaries of schemes such as the Pradhan Mantri Gram Awas Yojana.Jha states that the list of documents accepted for the 2024 General Elections included Aadhaar card, PAN card, driving licensse, pass book from nationalised banks, registered rent/lease/sale deed,...

RJD MP Moves Supreme Court Against Bihar Electoral Roll Revision, Asks Why Aadhaar Card Not Accepted By ECI

LIVELAW NEWS NETWORK

The Election Commission's order is a "a tool for institutionalized disenfranchisement", Jha contended.

Tags