05 October,2026 01:48 PM IST | Mumbai | mid-day online correspondent
NCP (SP) national spokesperson Clyde Crasto. File Pic
The Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (SP) on Monday backed remarks made by Supreme Court Justice Ujjal Bhuyan on the constitutional significance of voting rights amid the ongoing political controversy over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.
NCP (SP) national spokesperson Clyde Crasto said Bhuyan's observations highlighted the importance of protecting citizens against arbitrary disenfranchisement. He also accused the BJP of engaging in "whataboutery" to divert attention from allegations raised against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and the Election Commission of India.
Justice Bhuyan made the remarks on Sunday while delivering the valedictory address at the 19th Justice Bodh Raj Sawhney Memorial Moot Court Competition at NALSAR University of Law in Hyderabad.
Speaking about voting rights and the constitutional framework governing elections, Bhuyan said the Constitution does not provide for two classes of citizens - those with voting rights and those without them.
He said a process that results in the wholesale disenfranchisement of Indian citizens, effectively leaving them as citizens without voting rights, would be violative of Articles 14 and 326 of the Constitution.
"If any process results in disenfranchising millions and millions of Indian citizens, making them second-class citizens in their own country in the sense of being citizens without a voting right, such a process is intrinsically arbitrary. No amount of whataboutery can justify it," he said.
"It strikes at the very heart of the Constitution, and I would go to the extent of saying that it is a negation of the Constitutional order which we have adopted based on the Constitution of India," he said.
Bhuyan also said no authority was above the Constitution and linked the right to vote with India's democratic system and the country's history of independence.
Crasto welcomed Bhuyan's comments and linked them to the opposition's concerns about the SIR exercise.
"Justice Bhuyan''s statement on the SIR issue upholds our Constitution and democracy. Any arbitrary disenfranchisement of voters violates their fundamental right to vote," Crasto told PTI.
He argued that excluding eligible voters from electoral rolls would undermine the democratic process and said the NCP (SP) supported the need for safeguards to ensure that legitimate voters are not removed.
The party has been among the opposition groups questioning the Election Commission's handling of the SIR exercise and raising concerns about the potential exclusion of eligible voters.
Crasto also targeted the BJP over its response to criticism of the Election Commission.
The BJP's "whataboutery" indicated an attempt to cover up the alleged wrongdoings of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and the Election Commission, he alleged.
Opposition parties, civil society groups and the Cockroach Janta Party have held protests in different parts of the country demanding Kumar's resignation over alleged irregularities in the SIR process.
The protests have focused on concerns that the electoral-roll revision could result in eligible voters being excluded. Opposition leaders have also questioned the Election Commission's decision-making and called for greater transparency in the process.
(With inputs from PTI)
