EC calls it 'drama' as Yogendra Yadav brings 2 'dead' voters to Supreme Court, alleges Bihar SIR is biggest disenfranchisement drive

Yogendra Yadav said that the figure for names not included in the list is bound to cross 1 crore.

Political analyst and founder of Swaraj Abhiyan, Yogendra Yadav, on Tuesday (August 1) said the Bihar Special Intensive Revision exercise is the first exercise in the history of the country where revision has taken place with zero additions.

Yadav told the Supreme Court during the hearing of the petitions before a bench of Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi, raising objections to Bihar SIR on Tuesday. Yadav contended that the SIR has failed and proved counterproductive. He said the standard way to measure the completeness of electoral rolls globally is to compare the adult population with the number of registered voters.

He warned that when the burden shifts from the state to the citizen, the exact number of voters is immediately lost. He added that those excluded tend to be marginalised and poor, potentially amounting to a quarter of the voting population.

Citing government records, Yadav said Bihar’s adult population stands at 8.18 crore, yet the electoral roll lists only 7.89 crore voters — 29 lakh fewer. He said the presumption that Bihar's voter list was inflated and needed correction was wrong.

“Bihar is deflated slightly,” Yadav said. To this, Justice Kant asked whether any impact study was done during a similar exercise in 2003.

Yadav told the court that there was no comparison done ever. “Never in the history of this country have [all people been] to submit their forms in revision exercise. If it was done in 2003, the other side should point it out,” he said.

He went on to say what was special in 2003 was that SIR was done apart from the word "intensive" being used. This is the first exercise in the history of the country where revision has taken place with zero additions, Yadav said.

He said vast exclusion has already begun as the figure is much more than 65 lakhs. “This is not a failure of implementation of SIR, but because of the fact that wherever you implement SIR, the result will be the same,” he told the court.

When Justice Kant asked if the SIR can be used to eliminate bogus voters, Yadav responded that during door-to-door verification, officials “cannot find a single addition in any household.”

He said, “When you come to my house, you look for deletions, not additions — even though 28 lakh people could be added. The ECI may say we can file Form 6, but that is not part of the revision process." He further contended that legal orders are being altered through press releases, remarking, “At least during demonetisation, the RBI issued notifications — unlike the ECI.”

“Mistakes happen, but this is the first revision with not a single addition,” Yadav said.

Yadav said this may be the largest disenfranchisement not only in India’s history, but in any democracy worldwide as 65 lakh names have been excluded, calling it not a matter of revision but a “tectonic shift” in the burden on voters.

He also said more names of women have been deleted than men. “31 lakh women have been deleted...25 lakh men have been deleted,” he pointed out.

Yadav highlighted the challenges in verifying the voters. He told the court that according to ECI, all these 7.24 crores filled will have to be scrutinised. Yadav pointed out ECI handbook says 4,600 forms will be tallied by ERO every single day, adding that he [ERO] also happens to be BDO and that the state is reeling under floods.

Further he said that when an appeal will be filed on exclusion, it would be decided after the list is frozen. “This is dreadful”, he said, adding, “then, best of luck after 5 years,” taking a jibe.

Yadav produced two people including a woman in court, claiming they were listed as dead in the draft roll.

Senior advocate Rakesh Dwivedi, appearing for the ECI, dismissed it as “drama best kept for television, not the courtroom.”

Yadav further said that the figure for names not included in the list is bound to cross 1 crore.

“This is not an issue of revision. Please see them. These are declared as dead. They don't appear. But they are alive..see them,” he told the apex court.

Justice Bagchi responded saying this may have been an inadvertent error which can be corrected, adding Yadav’s points were well taken by the court. The court will resume the hearing on Wednesday (August 13).