SC to hear on July 10 pleas against EC's decision to revise electoral rolls in Bihar

The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to hear on July 10 a batch of petitions challenging the decision of the Election Commission to undertake special intensive revision of electoral rolls in poll-bound Bihar.

A partial working day (PWD) bench comprising Justices Sudhanshu Dhulia and Joymalya Bagchi took note of the submissions of a battery of senior lawyers led by Kapil Sibal on behalf of several petitioners and agreed to hear the pleas on Thursday.

Sibal urged the bench to issue notices to the poll panel on the petitions.

“We will have it on Thursday,” Justice Dhulia said.

Several pleas, including by leaders like Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) MP Manoj Jha and Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra, have been filed in the top court challenging an Election Commission’s order directing for special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar.

Jha said the EC’s June 24 order be quashed for being violative of Articles 14 (fundamental right to equality), 21 (fundamental right to life and liberty), 325 (no person can be excluded from electoral roll based on caste, religion and sex) and 326 (every citizen of India who has attained 18 years of age is eligible to be registered as a voter) of the Constitution.

A similar plea has also been filed by NGO Association of Democratic Reforms, challenging the poll body’s direction for SIR of electoral rolls in Bihar.

Several other civil society organisations like PUCL and activists like Yogendra Yadav have approached the top court against the EC’s order.

The EC on June 24 issued instructions to carry out SIR in Bihar, apparently to weed out ineligible names and ensure only eligible citizens are included in the electoral roll.

The last such revision in Bihar was conducted in 2003.