On August 13, the Supreme Court noted that electoral rolls must be updated regularly, emphasizing that increasing acceptable ID documents from seven to eleven for Bihar’s SIR is "voter-friendly and not exclusionary"
The bench also rejected a petitioner’s claim that the SIR of electoral rolls in poll-bound Bihar lacked a legal basis and should be quashed File pic.
The Supreme Court on Thursday directed the Election Commission of India (ECI) to clarify which documents were considered during the 2003 intensive electoral roll revision in Bihar, reported PTI.
A bench of Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi, hearing a plea challenging the ECI’s June 24 decision to conduct a Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in the state, said, "We would like ECI to state what documents were taken in the 2003 exercise."
The remarks came after submissions from advocate Nizam Pasha, who, citing the court’s earlier observation, said, "If the date of January 1, 2003 (the date of the earlier SIR) goes, then everything goes."
"I must submit that nothing was there to show why this date is there… The impression being given is that it is the earlier date when the intensive exercise for revision of the electoral roll was held. It is stated that the EPIC (voter) card issued then is more reliable than those issued during summary exercises conducted from time to time, which is incorrect," Pasha said, reported PTI.
He further questioned how EPIC cards issued during summary exercises could be considered less valid when the process of enrolment under both intensive and summary revisions was the same.
As reported by PTI, Pasha argued that the 2003 date lacked a valid basis and was not grounded in any "intelligible differentia" distinguishing the two situations.
"No receipt of my enumeration form is being given or any document acknowledging the receipt is provided, giving booth-level officers excessive discretion on whether to accept the form or not," he said.
Senior advocate Shoeb Alam, representing another petitioner, said the ECI notification contained inadequacies. He argued the process outlined was neither "summary" nor "intensive" but a creation unique to the notification.
"This is a process of voter registration and cannot be a process of disqualification. This is a process to welcome, not to unwelcome," he said, reported PTI.
On August 13, the Supreme Court observed that electoral rolls cannot remain static and revisions are inevitable, noting that expanding the list of acceptable identity documents from seven to eleven for Bihar’s SIR was "voter-friendly and not exclusionary."
As the debate over the SIR continued, the bench affirmed that the ECI holds residual powers to conduct such exercises as it deems fit.
The bench also rejected a petitioner’s claim that the SIR of electoral rolls in poll-bound Bihar lacked a legal basis and should be quashed, reported PTI.
Opposition leaders, including those from the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and Congress, along with the NGO Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR), have opposed the electoral roll revision drive in Bihar.
(Inputs from PTI)
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