A bench of Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi, which resumed hearing on a batch of pleas challenging the June 24 decision of Election Commission (EC) to conduct SIR in poll bound Bihar, said despite petitioners’ arguments that non-acceptance of Aadhaar was exclusionary, it appeared the large number of documents was “actually inclusionary”
West Bengal Youth Congress members in Kolkata hold a protest over alleged ‘vote chori’. PIC/PTI
The Supreme Court on Wednesday said the 11 documents required to be submitted by an elector for Bihar’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls as opposed to seven documents in summary revision conducted previously showed the exercise was “voter friendly”.
A bench of Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi, which resumed hearing on a batch of pleas challenging the June 24 decision of Election Commission (EC) to conduct SIR in poll bound Bihar, said despite petitioners’ arguments that non-acceptance of Aadhaar was exclusionary, it appeared the large number of documents was “actually inclusionary”.
“The number of documents in summary revision conducted earlier in the state was seven and in SIR it is 11, which shows it is voter friendly. We understand your arguments that non-acceptance of Aadhaar is exclusionary but a high number of documents is actually inclusionary,” the bench said. The top court noted electors were required to submit any one of the 11 documents in the list.
Senior advocate Abhishek Singhvi, appearing for the petitioners, disagreed and submitted that the number of documents may be high but they had the least coverage. Giving an example of passport availability with the electors, Singhvi said it was only one to two per cent in Bihar and they have no provision for permanent resident certificates given in the state.
“If we see the availability of documents with the population in Bihar it can be seen the coverage is very low,” he said. The bench said the coverage of 36 lakh of passport holders in the state appears to be good.
Cong releases ‘vote chori’ ad
The Congress on Wednesday stepped up its campaign against alleged ‘vote chori’ by releasing a new video depicting how fake votes were being cast and party chief Mallikarjun Kharge asking people to raise their voice and save constitutional institutions from the “clutches of the BJP.” Congress leader Rahul Gandhi also shared the minute-long video and said, “Aapke vote ki chori aapke adhikar ki chori, aapki pehchaan ki chori hai.”
Tagging the advertisement titled ‘booth par vote chori’, Kharge said, “Do not let your rights to vote be snatched away. Ask questions, demand answers this time! Raise your voice against vote chori.” “Free constitutional institutions from the clutches of the BJP,” he said in his message to the people. Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra also shared the video on X, and said, “the theft of your vote is theft of your rights, theft of your identity.”
“Save your right to vote, Raise your voice against vote theft.” The video made by the Congress depicts a family entering a polling booth with two people telling them that their votes have already been cast by them and it ends with the two persons casting fake votes showing a thumbs up to an officer sitting at the table with ‘election chori aayog’ display plate on his table.
The Congress on Tuesday had claimed that “vote chori”was a “do-or-die” issue for it, and announced a roadmap to take its allegations to the people through various activities, including taking out ‘Loktantra bachao mashaal marches’ on August 14 evening.
‘Vote chor, gaddi chhod’
The Rajasthan unit of Congress took out a march against the alleged discrepancies in voter list raised by party leader Rahul Gandhi. Led by state Congress chief Govind Singh Dotasra, the protesters marched from the party headquarters here to the Shaheed Smarak, raising slogans like “vote chor, gaddi chhod” (vote thieves, vacate the throne) on the way. Addressing the party workers, Dotasra accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of securing power through “stolen votes.”
EC colluding with BJP: Tejashwi
RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav on Wednesday accused the Election Commission (EC) of “colluding” with the BJP to “steal” votes in Bihar, where Assembly polls are due later this year. He also alleged that the poll panel was “helping BJP leaders secure two voter cards each”, and reiterated that the RJD could boycott the Bihar elections if alleged irregularities on the electoral rolls are not rectified. The BJP termed these allegations as “false and misleading”. “It is a fact that the EC has colluded with the BJP to steal votes in Bihar. In fact, the draft electoral rolls published by the EC after the initial exercise of the SIR should be called ‘dacoity’ of votes. The EC is helping BJP leaders secure two voter ID cards each in the state," Yadav alleged.
‘Chor machaye shor’
The BJP on Wednesday claimed irregularities in voter registration in Rae Bareli, Wayanad, Diamond Harbour and Kannauj parliamentary seats and asked Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Abhishek Banerjee and Akhilesh Yadav to resign as Lok Sabha MPs, alleging they secured victory in elections with “vote chori”.
Fromer Union minister Anurag Thakur flagged “irregularities” in the voter registration in Kolathur Assembly seat in Tamil Nadu and in Mainpuri Lok Sabha seat in Uttar Pradesh and asked CM and DMK supremo MK Stalin and SP leader Dimple Yadav to resign for “rigging” election. “Seeing this ‘shor’ (hue and cry) being made by the opposition, it now seems that ‘chor machaye shor’,” he said.
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