SC asks Election Commission to furnish details of 65 lakh voters deleted from Bihar draft rolls

The Supreme Court on Wednesday, 6 August, asked the Election Commission (EC) to furnish by 9 August the details of around 65 lakh electors left out from the draft electoral rolls in poll-bound Bihar.

A bench of Justices Surya Kant, Ujjal Bhuyan and N. Kotiswar Singh asked the counsel for the EC to furnish the details, the data which has been already been shared with the political parties and also give a copy to the Association For Democratic Reforms, an NGO.

Challenging the 24 June EC order directing for Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar, ADR filed a fresh application asking the apex court to direct the poll panel to publish the names of around 65 lakh deleted voters and mention whether they are dead, have permanently migrated or not considered for any other reason.

The bench told advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for the NGO, that the reason for deletion would come in subsequent time as it is now only a draft list.

However, Bhushan contended that some political parties have been given a list of deleted voters but they have not further clarified whether the said voter is dead or migrated.

The bench told the EC counsel, "We will see every voter likely to be affected and get the required information. You (ECI) file a reply by Saturday and let Mr Bhushan look at it and then we can see what is disclosed and what is not disclosed."

Bhushan alleged that 75 per cent of voters, who have filled the enumeration forms have not furnished any of the 11 supporting documents mentioned in the list and their names were included on the recommendation of Booth Level Officer (BLO).

The judges said they were commencing hearing on a batch of petitions challenging the EC's 24 June order on 12 August and the NGO can make these averments on that day.

On 29 July the Supreme Court had fixed a timeline for considering a batch of pleas challenging the SIR in Bihar and said the hearing on the issue will be held on 12 August and 13 August.

The court had previously refused to stay the publication of the draft electoral roll in Bihar.

The draft roll was published on 1 August and the final roll will be out on 30 September. The much-anticipated 'draft electoral rolls' enlists 7.24 crore voters but it has knocked off more than 65 lakh names.