On July 7, the Supreme Court agreed to hear urgently several petitions filed against the Election Commission of India's (ECI) move to carry out a "special deep revision" of the voter list in Bihar. The matter will now be heard on July 10.
Senior advocates Kapil Sibal, Dr Abhishek Manu Singhvi, Gopal Sankaranarayanan and Shadan Farasat jointly mentioned the issue before a bench of Justices Sudhanshu Dhulia and Joymalya Bagchi, citing the gravity of the matter.
The petitioners argued that lakhs of genuine voters could be wrongly removed from the electoral rolls. They expressed concern that many old voters could be deleted if they failed to submit the required documents on time.
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"This is an impossible task," argued Kapil Sibal, representing the RJD.
"The number of voters is 8 crore and 4 crore have to be counted," said Singhvi.
"They will not even accept Aadhaar or voter cards," said Sankaranarayanan.
According to the lawyers, the deadline given by the Election Commission is very strict, with July 25 being the last date for submission of applications. Anyone who fails to comply risks being removed from the voter list - even if he or she has been voting for the last 20 years.
"There is no sanctity in the deadline, as the elections have not been notified yet," Justice Dhulia said.
The court has directed that advance notice of the petitions be given to the Election Commission of India before the next hearing.
Currently, four petitions have been filed challenging the ECI's decision. The petitioners include:
- RJD MP Manoj Jha
- Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR)
- People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL)
- Activist Yogendra Yadav
- Lok Sabha MP Mahua Moitra
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The petitioners have raised serious concerns about the fairness and practicality of the special voter list revision, especially when it involves such a large number of people and there is limited time for action.
The Supreme Court will hold a lengthy extended hearing on these petitions on Thursday, July 10.
