The Supreme Court on Friday criticised political parties in Bihar for not helping people whose names were left out of the draft voter list during the ongoing special revision of electoral rolls (SIR).
A bench led by Justice Surya Kant told 12 political parties to order their workers to help people file complaints if their names were wrongly removed. Voters can use Aadhaar or any of the 11 documents listed by the Election Commission to file claims. The court saidthe timeline of the revision would not be changed for now.
Earlier, the court had allowed people whose names were deleted to submit their Aadhaar to challenge it. Justice Kant said: “All political parties in Bihar must direct their workers to help people file the required forms with Aadhaar or any of the other valid documents.”
The Supreme Court expressed disappointment because, despite Bihar having 1.68 lakh booth-level agents (BLAs) from different political parties, only two objections have been filed so far. This lack of action is surprising, especially since the opposition has claimed that the special revision of electoral rolls (SIR) could remove lakhs of genuine voters from the list.
According to reports, around 65 lakh names have been deleted from the draft voter list published on August 1. Some opposition parties even alleged that many living people were marked as “dead” in the list.
The court asked: “If BLAs have been appointed, why are they not helping people? Political parties must assist voters.” It directed BLAs to check whether the 65 lakh people left out are genuinely dead, have shifted their residence, or were wrongly removed.
Political parties, represented by lawyers Kapil Sibal and Abhishek Manu Singhvi, said their BLAs were not being allowed to submit objections. The court noted this and included 12 political parties in the case.
The Supreme Court also saidobjections can be filed online, and if done physically, booth-level officers must give a receipt. These directions came while hearing petitions against the Election Commission’s SIR exercise in Bihar, which is due for elections later this year.
