SC to Hear Bihar Voter List Case

Several petitions have been filed in the Supreme Court over the possibility of lakhs of names being removed from the voter list under the Special Intensive Revision in Bihar.

Now the Supreme Court has agreed to hear the petitions challenging the Election Commission's decision on July 10. Senior advocates Kapil Sibal, Abhishek Manu Singhvi, Gopal Shankarnarayanan and Shadab Farasat have filed a petition in the Supreme Court on this issue.

It has been argued on behalf of these lawyers that there is a possibility of lakhs of people's names being removed from the voter list due to the Special Intensive Revision process (Bihar Voter List Revision). Women and people coming from poor backgrounds will be affected the most in this.

Senior advocates Abhishek Manu Singhvi, Kapil Sibal and others argued in the court that if a voter does not fill the form with the necessary documents, his name can be removed from the voter list, even if he has been voting for the last twenty years.

What arguments did the lawyers give?

Singhvi said, "There are 8 crore voters and 4 crore have to be counted. This is an impossible task." Sibal said, "It is not so easy." At the same time, lawyer Sankaranarayanan said that documents like Aadhar card and voter card are also not being accepted.

Singhvi told the court that the deadline for submitting documents by July 25 is so strict that if someone misses it, his name will be out of the list. He said, "This deadline is so short that lakhs of people can be affected." However, Justice Dhulia said that since the election notification has not been issued yet, this deadline has no special significance.

'The process is complicated'

Lawyers say that this process is not only complicated but can also cause trouble for common voters. Especially for those who have been voting for years, but are now unable to submit documents under the new rules.

Four petitions have knocked the door of the Supreme Court in this matter. RJD's Manoj Jha, activist Yogendra Yadav, Mahua Moitra and other organizations have termed this move of the Election Commission as wrong. They say that this process is against fairness and transparency. This issue has already created a stir in Bihar politics.