New Delhi, Aug 12: The Supreme Court on Tuesday described the controversy over the Bihar special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls as “largely a trust-deficit issue” while hearing multiple pleas challenging the Election Commission’s (EC) exercise.
The EC told the court that around 6.5 crore of Bihar’s 7.9 crore voters were not required to file any documents as their names or their parents’ names were already in the 2003 electoral roll. A bench of Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi observed, “It largely appears to be a case of trust deficit, nothing else,” as it questioned the petitioners’ claim that the SIR could disenfranchise about one crore voters.
“If out of 7.9 crore voters, 7.24 crore responded to the SIR, it demolishes the theory of one crore voters missing or disenfranchised,” the bench told senior advocate Kapil Sibal, representing RJD leader Manoj Jha.
The court also backed the EC’s decision to not treat Aadhaar and voter ID cards as conclusive proof of citizenship, insisting that these must be supported by other documents. Sibal argued that despite residents holding Aadhaar, ration, and EPIC cards, officials refused to accept them.
Justice Kant countered, “It is a sweeping statement to say that in Bihar nobody has documents. If this happens in Bihar, then what will happen in other parts of the country?”
Other senior lawyers, including Abhishek Singhvi and Prashant Bhushan, questioned the timeline for completing the revision and the deletion of 65 lakh voters classified as dead, migrated, or registered elsewhere. Political activist Yogendra Yadav alleged that the SIR was “designed to delete voters,” claiming the EC could not find any individual whose name was added, while officials went door-to-door to delete names.
Sibal cited cases where people declared dead were found alive and vice versa. Senior advocate Rakesh Dwivedi, for the EC, admitted the draft stage might have “some defects here and there” but stressed that errors could be corrected.
The court will continue hearing the matter on Wednesday.
