Supreme Court Raises Many Doubts About ECI’s SIR Move In Bihar

As Election Commission of India (ECI) was busy in giving final shape to the Draft Revised Electoral Roll of Bihar to be published on August 1, an oral direction of the Supreme Court to ECI on July 28 to proceed with accepting Aadhaar and Electors Photo Identity Card (EPIC) has made ECI’s task challenging. First, because it is not physically possible to implement the direction within the limited time available, and secondly because its own insistence that they can’t accept Aadhaar, EPIC, and ration cards as proof of citizenship.

Moreover, the bench comprising Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi, in the brief hearing on July 28, has said that in case of mass exclusion of voters from the Draft Revised Electoral Roll, the Court will step in. On July 29, the bench has listed the case for final hearing on August 12 and 13.

In its last hearing the bench had urged the ECI to consider Aadhaar card, EPIC, and Ration Card as proof of identity, which ECI did not accept giving its reason that they don’t constitute citizenship, and they can be forged. Until the last date of submission of the elector form and documents on July 25, ECI did not accept the Supreme Court suggestion and insisted on the 11 other documents. The bench had pointed out that it was ridiculous since several of the documents the ECI was accepting could be obtained on the basis of Aadhaar card. It had also pointed out that any document can be forged, therefore it can’t be made basis of refusing acceptance of Aadhaar and EPIC.

On July 28, the Supreme Court has given oral direction to the ECI to proceed accepting Aadhaar and EPIC, since there is a “presumption of correctness” in the case of these 2 documents. The bench has made it clear that the January 2025 list of voters is the starting point if there was no SIR. The bench said to the petitioners challenging the SIR, “Don’t undermine the power of the court. Trust us,” adding that if court was in agreement with the submissions and if any illegality was found, everything would be quashed “there and then”.

This tone of the Supreme Court bench has put the ECI under tremendous pressure. They are weighing the pros and cons of the oral direction of the bench to accept Aadhaar and EPIC, but has not decided to accept those documents yet. They are being still refused at the ground level in Bihar, and the officials are asking for the 11 documents as per the June 14 order for the ECI for conduction SIR in the state.

ECI has made itself a laughing stock by insisting on the 11 documents while telling the court that forged Aadhaar, EPIC, and Ration cards are there and hence they can’t accept them. One of the JD(U) MP has rightly said that ECI don’t know about the ground reality, and SIR are just enforced upon them. And he is right.

Though ECI has flagged forgeries of Aadhaar, EPIC and Ration cards, it failed to flag forgeries f the 11 documents it insists on them. Two recent examples can be cited here. A residence certificate has been issued for a dog with dog’s photo, name – Dago Bagu, father’s name ‘Kutta Babu’, and the mother’s name ‘Kuttiya Devi.” It is a case from Masaurhi near the Patna, the capital city of Bihar. In a second case, just two weeks earlier, a certificate was issued in Munger with photo of Sonalika tractor, name Sonalika Kumar, daughter of father “Begusarai Chaudhari” and mother “Baliya Devi”.

These examples expose the flimsy ground of the ECI that on account of Aadhaar, EPIC and Ration cards can be forges, they can’t be accepted as identity proof of citizens, while they are accepting the 11 documents, and many of them may be forged, or grossly incorrect.

When the Dog’s residence certificate became viral, opposition ridiculed the government and the ECI. Swaraj India member Yogendra Yadav said that this is the same certificate that is being considered for SIR “while Aadhar and ration cards are being called fake”.

Congress wrote in its post, “The dog will appear and vote for BJP. Perhaps they’ll make Dog Babu candidate also all BJP Karyakartas will vote for him. This is naked manipulation of the electoral system by BJP with an unscrupulous @ECISVEEP which is working as a criminal syndicate. The courts are by-standers and blessing the carnage of democracy with their silence.”

ECI has in its affidavit submitted in the Supreme Court has said that it began the SIR “to restore public confidence in the integrity of the electoral roll. Justifying its SIR order, it said “…several recognised political parties across the spectrum have raised serious concerns with the Commission regarding inaccuracies in the electoral rolls — citing the inclusion of ineligible and deceased individuals and exclusion of eligible voters. These concerns arise from the limitations of the summary revision process which does not require fresh preparation of electoral rolls.”

Opposition has challenged the ECI order to have SIR of Electoral Roll in Bihar without giving enough time to the electors to submit their documents. ECI is demanding those documents that people do not have, while refusing the documents which they have such as Aadhaar, EPIC and ration card. Opposition has alleged electoral roll manipulation in favour of the BJP.

The issue has also rocked the Parliament of India – both Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha – causing disruption and adjournments. Legislative Assembly of Bihar also witnessed chaos.

The petitioners challenging the SIR exercise has said that 65 lakh names are to be deleted from the revised Electoral Roll in Bihar. They have been demanding that Aadhaar, EPIC and ration card be accepted as proof of identity, which ECI did not accept.

In its rejoinder to the ECI’s affidavit, ADR has alleged that the manner and the hurry with which SIR is being conducted is a “grave fraud” on the state’s voters.

In any case, ECI will be publishing Draft Revised Electoral Roll on August 1, which has been almost prepared without accepting Aadhaar and EPIC, and will hide itself behind a provision that there is a window for objection and correction until September 1. Since final hearing will start from August 12, the people of Bihar who have only Aadhaar and EPIC are hopeful of some relief, while ECI will have challenging time to defend itself if it continues to decide not to accept them as proof of identity of citizenship. (IPA Service)