SC Seeks Details on 3.66 Lakh Voters Excluded from Bihar List
GG News Bureau
New Delhi, 8th Oct: The Supreme Court on Tuesday directed the Election Commission (EC) to furnish details of 3.66 lakh people excluded from Bihar’s final voter list following a ‘special intensive revision’ (SIR).
A bench comprising Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi said decisions on the validity of the revision cannot be made “in the dark” and asked petitioners challenging the exercise to provide examples of at least 100 individuals allegedly wrongfully deleted.
Hearing petitions from the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) and opposition parties including Congress and RJD, the court stressed that the EC must publish details of deleted individuals at district-level electoral offices. Justice Bagchi gave the poll panel 48 hours to submit information on both deletions and additions in the voter lists.
The EC initially said most additions are new voters and no excluded individuals have yet complained. Petitioners, including advocates Prashant Bhushan and Abhishek Singhvi, argued that deletion notices and reasons were not provided, violating EC rules.
Justice Surya Kant highlighted that all voters have the right to appeal and urged the EC to communicate with deleted individuals, noting concerns over potential exclusions of women, Muslim voters, or illegal immigrants. The court asked ADR to file a detailed affidavit and directed the EC to respond to claims of wrongful deletion by the next hearing on Thursday.
