Facing allegations of deleting voters from electoral rolls during the special intensive revision (SIR) in poll-bound Bihar, the Election Commission of India has told the Supreme Court that it is under no legal obligation to prepare or publish a separate list of nearly 65 lakh names not included in the draft list of voters.
The submission came before the top court hears on Tuesday a detailed response to an application seeking the particulars and reasons for each of the 65 lakh voters deleted from the Bihar draft electoral roll published on August 1. The draft electoral roll enlisted 7.24 crore voters.
The application was orally mentioned by advocates Prashant Bhushan, appearing for the NGO Association for Democratic Reforms, and Neha Rathi for urgent hearing last week.
The poll panel completed the first phase of the SIR of electoral rolls by publishing the draft voter list on August 1. As poll officials scrutinise forms and conduct inquiries on claims and objections in preparation for the publication of the final list on September 30, the apex court is hearing objections to the SIR process filed by Opposition parties and civil society groups, with the next hearing set for August 12.
Who were the ‘missing’ names?
The poll body earlier said these were 22 lakh deceased, 36 lakh migrated/untraceable, and 7 lakh duplicate voters.
On July 13, the EC said a large number of people from Nepal, Bangladesh, and Myanmar were found during the house-to-house verification exercise and that they would not be included in the final electoral roll.
In its latest affidavit, the panel emphasised that the Representation of the People Act, 1950, and the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960, only require publication of the draft roll and provision for claims and objections, and not any parallel deletion list.
Can names be deleted?
According to the SIR guidelines, no name can be deleted from the draft electoral roll by the concerned ERO/AERO without giving a hearing to the elector and subsequently passing a written order, which are appealable to the DM and the CEO.
The poll body also said all eligible electors need to check their names in the draft list. If their name does not exist in the list, they should fill and submit Form 6 along with the Declaration Form.
“Young voters, who have turned 18 years on 1 July or are going to turn 18 by 1 October, should also get their name added to the Electoral roll by filling Form 6 along with the Declaration Form,” stated the EC.
In a plea to the apex court, poll watchdog Association for Democratic Reforms said the full list of names removed from the draft rolls, along with specific reasons for removal, was not provided to all political parties.
The poll body on Monday said that from August 1 to August 11, over 1,60,813 Booth Level Agents across national and state parties have not filed any objections or claims to the draft roll prepared after the enumeration forms were collected as part of the SIR.
In case ERO/AERO doubts the eligibility of the proposed elector (due to non-submission of requisite documents or otherwise), he/she will start a suo moto inquiry and issue notice to such proposed elector, as to why his/her name should not be deleted,” the EC order stated.
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