'Bihar SIR Process Illegal, ECI Can't Put Burden Of Proving Citizenship On Voters' : Petitioners Argue In Supreme Court

The Supreme Court on Tuesday (August 12) heard the arguments of the petitioners in the pleas challenging Election Commission's Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of Bihar's electoral rolls.A bench of Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi heard the matter during the entire second half of the day.Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal (for RJD MP Manoj Kumar Jha) submitted that the exclusion of about 65 lakh voters from the draft electoral roll published on August 1, without any objection to their inclusion, is illegal. However, the bench said that as per the Rules, the persons excluded have to submit applications for inclusion, and it is only at this stage that anyone's objection will be considered.Sibal then argued that most of the population of Bihar does not possess the documents specified by the ECI as acceptable. Sibal remarked, “Bihar people don't have these documents, that's the point,” prompting Justice Kant to respond, “Bihar is part of India. If they don't have them, other states won't either.”Sibal said the documents like birth certificates, matriculation certificates, Passport etc are possessed by a very limited segment. Raising eyebrows at the submission, Justice Kant remarked: “There must be something to prove you are a citizen of India… everybody possesses some certificate - you need it even to buy a SIM. OBC, SC, ST certificates…”Justice Kant added, "It is a very sweeping argument that in Bihar, nobody possesses these documents. Aadhaar and ration card they have?". Sibal then said that the ECI was not accepting Aadhaar, ration and EPIC cards, which most people have.When Sibal said ECI was claiming Aadhaar wasn't a citizenship proof, Justice Kant pointed out that it was not just the ECI's claim as the Aadhaar Act itself specified that Aadhaar number wasn't a citizenship proof.Sibal also said that even persons who were in the 2003 roll, though not required to submit the documents, have to submit the enumeration forms. "These are very poor people, they can't do it online. Why should even the people who were in the 2003 roll be asked to give forms? If they don't, they are also excluded," he said."These 65 lakhs you are saying (who are excluded) is it with reference to the 2003 roll?" Justice Bagchi asked. With reference to the 2025 rolls, Sibal replied.Senior Advocate Rakesh Dwivedi, for the ECI, then clarified that persons who are in the 2003 list and their children need not submit any form and about 6.5 crore voters come in this category. He added that the petitioners' arguments were mere "speculations" and requested to allow the ECI to complete the process.Sibal said that there were 7.9 crore total voters, and as per the ECI claim, 7.24 crore voters submitted the forms. About 22 lakhs are dead, 36 lakhs are said to have shifted. Sibal claimed that the ECI has given these figures without making any enquiries.Justice Bagchi then stated that the purpose of intensive revision is to find out if dead or migrated people are continuing in the rolls.Advocate Prashant Bhushan, for the Association for Democratic Reforms, said that the ECI has not published a list of names of the 65 lakh persons who have been deleted from the draft roll; nor have they specified who are dead or migrated persons. The reasons for deletion were also not furnished, he added. Dwivedi, for the ECI, interjected to say that the draft roll and the list of persons excluded were shared with the Booth Level Agents of the parties.Bhushan said that the ECI has now made the draft roll on their website non-searchable. "Today, what they have done is something mischievous. Till the 4th of August, the draft of the roll was searchable. After the 4th of August, the document is not searchable. They say, go and ask the Booth Level Agent of the political party. Why should I, as a citizen, not know from their document and should ask an agent of the political party?"Advocate Vrinda Grover argued that the ECI does not have the power to specify that only certain documents can be accepted. The specification of documents has to be done through an amendment passed by the Parliament, Grover said, pointing out that to allow the linking of Aadhaar with the voters' card, a Parliamentary amendment was passed."Where does the power of the ECI come? This is an ultra vires exercise. Where is the Parliamentary process to specify the 11 documents?" Grover asked. Senior Advocate Dr Abhishek Manu Singhvi submitted that the removal of voters from the list on the ground of lack of citizenship must be through a due process, which is not possible just 3-4 months ahead of assembly elections. He questioned the ECI's refusal to accept Aadhaar and EPIC. The persons who are in the rolls from 2003 to 2025 carry a presumption of citizenship, and to doubt them, some material should be there. Instead, all of them cannot be forced to undergo a citizenship determination exercise."You cannot start by presumptively doubting the citizenship of 5 crore of voters (who are in the post-2003 roll). ...

'Bihar SIR Process Illegal, ECI Can't Put Burden Of Proving Citizenship On Voters' : Petitioners Argue In Supreme Court

Debby Jain

"The process is of 'intensive deletion' and the first ever revision exercise in India with zero addition of voters," the Supreme Court was told.

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