Supreme Court Hearing on Sir: The Supreme Court sought information about the documents related to the intensive voter list revision process of 2003 in Bihar. Opposition parties and ADR challenged the process, the court said that amendment in the voter list is necessary.
Supreme Court on Bihar Voter List: The controversy over the special intensive revision (SIR) of the voter list in Bihar has now reached the Supreme Court. On Thursday, the apex court asked the Election Commission to clarify which documents were considered during the intensive voter list revision in 2003.
SIR case: Hearing started again in court
A bench of Justice Suryakant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi resumed the hearing on the petitions in the case. These petitions challenge the decision taken by the Election Commission on 24 June, in which it was decided to sir in Bihar. The court clearly stated that the Commission would have to present documents related to the 2003 process.
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Why are the questions arising on the date of 2003?
On behalf of the petitioners, advocate Nizam Pasha argued that it is not appropriate to base the date of 1 January 2003, as no concrete reason was given for this. He said that the assumption is being formed that there was a thorough revision on the same day, while in reality it is wrong to call the EPIC (voter) card released at that time more reliable than the card at that time.
Can a brief process cards be canceled?
Nizam Pasha raised the question that when the enrollment process of intensive and brief amendment is the same, how can the EPIC card made from a brief process be invalid? He also said that voters do not get any proof of their application, which gives high discretion to the booth level officials.
‘Brief’ and ‘intensive’- not only notification
On behalf of another petitioner, senior advocate Shoaib Alam questioned the notification of the Election Commission, saying that this process is not really brief nor intensive, but only a formal notification. He insisted that the process of voter registration is welcome, it should not be converted into the process of exclusion.
Supreme Court attitude, opposition parties challenge
In the last hearing held on August 13, the Supreme Court had said that voter lists cannot remain stable and they are scheduled to be amended from time to time. The court also admitted that it is beneficial for voters to increase the number of acceptable identity documents from seven to 11, not the step of them.
The process has been challenged by the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), Congress and Non-Government Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR). They allege that this SIR being done before the assembly elections is devoid of legal base and may harm voters.
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