New Delhi: The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Thursday objected to the PILs filed by several NGOs and other political activists in the Supreme Court challenging its decision to conduct Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls in poll-bound Bihar.
Senior advocate Rakesh Dwivedi, representing the poll body, objected to the locus standi of the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) and other PIL litigants.
“None of them are voters in Bihar! Before you (SC) are some sections of people who write articles and then file petitions. I have a serious objection to this,” submitted Dwivedi before a Bench of Justices Sudhanshu Dhulia and Joymalya Bagchi.
He said that ADR was recently deprecated by the Supreme Court, apparently referring to the observations made against it in the 100 per cent VVPAT verification judgment.
Rejecting a batch of pleas seeking mandatory cross-verification of the votes cast with Voter-Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) slips, the Supreme Court, in April 2024, had castigated the ADR for its prayer to return to the paper ballot system. The top court had said that the prayer revealed the ADR’s “real intention” to discredit the system of voting through the EVMs and derail the electoral process, by “creating unnecessary doubts” in the minds of the electorate.
“I have serious doubts as regards the bona fides of the petitioning association when it seeks a reversion to the old order. Irrespective of the fact that in the past efforts of the petitioning association in bringing about electoral reforms have borne fruit, the suggestion put forth appeared inexplicable,” observed Justice Dipankar Datta of the apex court.
Justice Datta had said that in recent years, a “trend has been fast developing of certain vested interest groups” endeavouring to undermine the achievements and accomplishments of the nation, earned through the hard work and dedication of its sincere workforce, adding that “there seems to be a concerted effort to discredit, diminish, and weaken the progress of this great nation on every possible frontier.”
Continuing his submissions, the poll body’s counsel said that nobody should object to the purification or the electoral rolls, and the Election Commission will follow all the procedures prescribed under the law, along with the principles of natural justice.
The ECI urged the apex court not to interfere with the SIR exercise at this stage.
“Let the revision exercise be completed, and then your lordships may look at the entire picture,” submitted Dwivedi before the Justice Dhulia-led Bench.
In its latest petition filed before the Supreme Court, the ADR contended that the order of Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar, if not set aside, can “arbitrarily” and “without due process” disenfranchise lakhs of voters from electing their representatives, and disrupt free and fair elections and democracy — a part of basic structure of the Constitution.
“The documentation requirements of the directive, lack of due process as well as the unreasonably short timeline for the said Special Intensive Revision of Electoral Roll in Bihar (SIR) further make this exercise bound to result in removal of names of lakhs of genuine voters from electoral rolls leading to their disenfranchisement,” it said.
The plea added that the SIR order issued on June 24 by the ECI excluded identification documents such as Aadhaar or ration cards, making marginalised communities (such as SC, STs and migrant workers) and the poor more vulnerable to exclusion from voting. As per the ADR, there is no reason for such a “drastic exercise” in a poll-bound state in such a short period of time, violating the right to vote of lakhs of voters.
(IANS)
