Supreme Court Says Bihar Voter Roll Revision Could Be Scrapped If Found Illegal
The Supreme Court on Tuesday said the results of the Election Commission’s ongoing special intensive revision of Bihar’s voter list could be annulled — even as late as September, just two months before the Assembly elections — if illegality in the process is proven.
The observation came during a hearing on petitions questioning the EC’s authority to demand 11 specific documents (excluding Aadhaar and its own voter ID card) for voter re-verification to prove citizenship. Petitioners argued the EC lacked jurisdiction to decide citizenship, which is the responsibility of the Union Home Ministry.
Senior advocate Abhishek Singhvi, representing RJD MP Manoj Kumar Jha, stressed that the case was not about Aadhaar’s validity but about the EC overstepping its mandate. “You cannot have a system where citizenship is doubted for five crore people… The EC was never intended to be the ‘policeman of citizenship’,” he said.
Justice Surya Kant noted that while granting citizenship is the government’s role, excluding non-citizens from electoral rolls falls within the EC’s remit. Singhvi countered that once a person is already on the voter list, the EC should not determine their citizenship status.
The court’s remarks, while not a final verdict, are being seen as a boost for opposition parties, which have alleged that the voter roll revision is a tool to disenfranchise lakhs from marginalised communities who traditionally support them. Rahul Gandhi has accused the EC of colluding with the BJP, a charge the poll body strongly denies, insisting the exercise is aimed at cleaning the rolls by removing ineligible or duplicate entries.
The BJP has dismissed the opposition’s claims as excuses ahead of a likely defeat, with Home Minister Amit Shah mocking Rahul Gandhi’s allegations in Bihar last week. The EC says it has already removed over 65 lakh ineligible names, including non-citizens from Nepal, Myanmar, and Bangladesh.
News Source : Information for this article was gathered from a variety of reliable news outlets.
