SC seeks ECI’s response on omission of voters in Bihar draft rolls

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday sought a response from the Election Commission of India (ECI) to a plea seeking disclosure of details of nearly 65 lakh voters whose names were omitted in the recently published draft electoral rolls in Bihar.

A Bench comprising Justices Surya Kant, Ujjal Bhuyan, and N.K. Singh passed the order after advocate Prashant Bhushan mentioned the application filed by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR).

The ADR’s application demanded that the ECI release constituency and booth-wise list of names and details of voters whose enumeration forms were not submitted, along with reasons for non-submission (like death, permanently shifted, duplicate, untraceable, etc.) against each name.

In a bid to enable political parties, the general public, and the petitioners to cross-check and verify the draft electoral rolls, the application also sought an Assembly constituency — and booth-wise list of voters on the draft electoral rolls, whose enumeration forms have been “not recommended” by the BLO (Booth Level Officer).

After the poll body stated that the information of deleted voters had already been shared with the booth-level representatives of political parties, the Justice Kant-led Bench asked the ECI to place its reply on record.

“Give a list of political parties that were supplied with it. We will hear the case on August 12. File your reply by Saturday (August 9),” said the apex court.

“We will ensure that every voter likely to be affected is informed and given an opportunity to comply with requirements. Political parties as well as the local administration must be in possession of the requisite information,” it added.

The ADR on Tuesday filed an interlocutory application in the plea challenging the June 26 decision of the ECI directing a Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in poll-bound Bihar.

It referred to the ECI’s press statement dated July 25, which said that nearly 65 lakh voter names are likely to be deleted from the existing electoral rolls as a result of the SIR process.

“This shows that the ECI admittedly has details with names and other particulars of the nearly 22 lakh voters who are deceased, nearly 35 lakh voters who have either permanently migrated or couldn’t be traced, nearly seven lakh voters who are registered at multiple locations and of nearly 1.2 lakh voters whose enumeration forms were yet to be received,” the application said.

The plea added that the poll body’s failure to disclose the specific reason for deletion against each of the 65 lakh names “appears to be an attempt to prevent the general public, including the petitioners, from verifying whether the individuals listed are indeed deceased or have permanently migrated”.

Meanwhile, sources in the Bihar election office said that, contrary to the opposition parties’ allegations and narrative that the SIR could disenfranchise a large number of voters, the Opposition has not pointed out even a single infirmity in the exercise. Not a single claim or objection has been filed by any political party since August 1, the poll panel said.

IANS