Supreme Court Directs EC to Publish Names of 65 Lakh Deleted Bihar Voters on Website – SIR Data Controversy

Holding that voters found excluded under the special intensive revision of electorates after the poll-bound Bihar should be informed about their removal, the Supreme Court on Thursday separately ordered the Election Commission to publish the names of 65 lakh voters to be deleted off the electoral rolls.

A bench comprising Justices Surya Kant and Joymala Bagchi said that transparency is required regarding 65 lakh voters who have been deleted allowing people to clarify or correct the mistake.

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What the SC spoke

• The apex court further requested the poll body to place the printed booth wise list, giving the reasons as to why the person was deleted, at panchayat and block development offices.
• Deletion lists in formats applicable on a district-wise basis should be provided in the office of the Chief Electoral Officer.
• The apex court also gave EC a directive to post the data on it official site by Tuesday.
• The option of searching the soft copies of deleted voters list that will be posted in district electoral officer website would be provided.
• The bench had also asked the poll body to publicise the deletions and reasons using newspapers, radio and television.
• The highest court further instructed the election commission to consider Aadhaar card as a valid document used to make an identity proof.
• "Your list of 11 documents seems citizen-friendly, but Aadhaar and EPIC are readily available...your notice can say that those who have not submitted so far, they can submit their Aadhaar and EPIC also," Justice Bagchi said.

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On July 29 the Supreme Court threatened to intervene at once should there be a mass disenfranchisement of voters. The draft roll was published on Aug 1, and the final version was supposed to be published on September, 30. Oppostion parties argue that the process may disenfranchise crores of people who are eligible voters.

When the SIR row reached the peak, the bench opined that the EC had the residual authority to run such exercise the way it found it fit.

The bench also differed with a claim made by one of the petitioners that the SIR of the electoral rolls in poll bound Bihar lacked any legal foundation and should be quashed by the court.

The appeals have been made collectively by RJD, Trinamool Congress, Congress, NCP (Sharad Pawar), CPI, SP, Shiv Sena (Uddhav Thackeray), JMM, CPI (ML) and by PUCL, ADR and activist Yogendra Yadav against the decision on June 24 by the EC.

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