The Supreme Court on Friday said voters in Bihar who wish to challenge their exclusion from the electoral roll ahead of the upcoming election may use Aadhaar as proof of residence.
The court directed the Election Commission to add Aadhaar to the existing list of 11 acceptable documents.
Hearing petitions against the ‘special intensive revision’ of the voter list, the bench clarified that applications for re-inclusion can now be filed with either Aadhaar or any of the other listed documents.
The Supreme Court expressed surprise at the inaction of political parties in the Bihar voter list revision. The apex court noted that only two objections were raised by booth-level agents of parties, despite 85,000 new voters being added during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR).
“We will allow online submission of claims for deleted voters with an Aadhaar card or any other acceptable documents for the Bihar SIR,” the bench said.
The Supreme Court said a person, on their own or with the assistance of BLAs (booth-level agents) is entitled to apply online and does not necessarily have to apply in physical form.
It added that BLAs of all political parties are directed to make an endeavour that approximately 65 lakh persons not included in the draft rolls are facilitated, except those who are dead or have voluntarily migrated, in submitting their objections by the cutoff date of September 1.
The Supreme Court stated that wherever physical forms are submitted, BLOs are to acknowledge receipt, but such acknowledgement shall not be proof that the form is complete in all respects. The Supreme Court is to hear on September 8 a batch of pleas challenging the poll panel’s move to conduct SIR of electoral rolls in Bihar.
Earlier, the Election Commission had filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court saying the list of names and details of 65 lakh electors in Bihar who were not included in the draft roll published on August 1 had been posted on the websites of all 38 District Electoral Officers in the state.
The list also contained the reasons for their non-inclusion, including death, shifting of ordinary residence, or duplicate entries, the ECI told the Supreme Court.
The ECI said physical copies of the list have been displayed in Panchayat Bhavans, block development offices, and Panchayat offices in villages across Bihar for people to easily access them and enable inquiry.