नवीनतम
Including and excluding citizens within ECI remit: SC on SIR row
NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: The Supreme Court on Tuesday said the Bihar special intensive revision (SIR) row appears to be a "trust deficiency" issue and agreed with the Election Commission of India’s (ECI) decision not to accept Aadhaar and voter cards as conclusive proof of citizenship in the ongoing exercise and said it has to be supported by other documents. The apex court emphasised that including or excluding citizens and non-citizens from electoral rolls was within ECI’s remit.
A bench of Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi was hearing a batch of pleas against the ECI's electoral roll revision exercise in Bihar. Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal appeared for RJD MP Manoj Kumar Jha and many other petitioners.
Sibal, pointing at the list of documents sought by the Election Commission, said, "The Bihar people do not have all these documents. Bihar is part of India. If Bihar does not have that, then other states also would not have (those documents)”, said the bench. Sibal said only 3 per cent have birth certificates from 2001-2024.
The bench queried Sibal, is it his argument that a person who does not have any identity certificate and does not have any kind of certificate on the earth because he's physically there in Bihar, therefore, he should be a citizen?
Sibal said the law requires that I be deemed to be a citizen if I am a resident in that area, and I am 18 years old, then I am entitled. “There must be something to prove that you are a resident of India, maybe a ration card, voter card or Aadhaar card…”, said the bench.
Sibal said only 2.7 per cent of people in Bihar have passports, and 3.71 per cent have school certificates, and permanent resident certificates are not issued in Bihar. The bench queried whether identity proofs are required even for buying a mobile connection. “Mr Sibal, it is a sweeping argument that in Bihar nobody possesses these documents, then what will happen in other parts of India?” said the bench.
Sibal replied that is why the petitioners are pressing for accepting the Aadhaar card and ration card in the list of documents, but the Election Commission is not accepting it, and added, “They say I will not accept Aadhaar as proof of anything”.
The bench asked Sibal to see Section 9 of the Aadhaar Act. Section 9 in the Aadhaar Act says the Aadhaar number or the authentication thereof shall not, by itself, confer any right of, or be proof of, citizenship or domicile in respect of an Aadhaar number holder.
The bench said after submitting the documents, the burden is shifted from the person to the Election Commission, and added, “Then it is for them to verify whether your Aadhaar card or ration card is genuine…give your documents and let them verify”. Sibal insisted that Aadhaar, ration card, and Electronic Electoral Photo Identity (EPIC) card are not being accepted. “Not accepted as conclusive proof. They (Election Commission) are right in saying. It cannot be accepted as conclusive proof because it will also require verification of genuineness…”, said Justice Kant.
Out of 7.9 crore people, 7.24 crore submitted forms
The bench asked Sibal if he was challenging the entire process, then he was questioning the cut-off date, and let the state respond whether the Election Commission has such power or not.
Sibal said the Election Commission, in its counter affidavit, said that they did not do any inquiry, then how were the names deleted, and how have people moved away from Bihar and have gone somewhere else?
“7.9 crore people in 2025, out of that 7.24 crore have furnished their forms…they will be thrown out because they have not submitted the documents. Where is the time for that now (for giving a hearing)? They (EC) do not say whether the forms submitted included documents, and 22 Lakh are dead without inquiry, and they do not tell us who”, said Sibal.
The bench was informed that 4.96 crore people were part of the 2003 electoral roll, and they can be touched if they do not fill out the form. “We want to understand whether apprehension is imaginary or it has some truth on the ground…7.90 crore are the total voters (out of which 5 crores are part of the 2003 electoral roll)…”, noted the bench. Sibal said that they claim that 36 Lakh people shifted out of the state and 7 Lakh are already enrolled in some other constituency, 22 Lakh are dead, and the total comes to 65 Lakh people, which were excluded from the draft electoral roll.
7.24 crore people must have furnished information to ECI
Justice Kant said 7.24 crore people must have furnished information in terms of Form 4. Sibal said he does not know. “For whom you want the roving inquiry…who is wanting this roving inquiry…let us see to whom the information has been supplied at ground level”, said Justice Kant. Sibal said he does not want a roving inquiry.
The bench said the requirement of documents is one aspect, which is followed by the verification of documents. “They must tell us what documents have been submitted…they only say 7.24 crore have submitted their forms”, said Sibal.
Out of 7.9 crore voters, 7.24 crore responded
The bench said there “appears to be a trust deficiency” and nothing else, as it questioned the petitioners challenging the EC’s June 24 decision of conducting the SIR on the ground that it would disenfranchise one crore voters. The bench noted that out of 7.9 crore voters, 7.24 crore voters have responded to the SIR.
ECI claimed roughly 6.5 crore people of the total 7.9 crore voting population didn't have to file any documents because they or their parents featured in the 2003 electoral roll. ECI said there is no voter before the apex court.
Inclusion and exclusion of citizens and non-citizens from rolls is within the ECI remit
Justice Kant said the law of granting or taking away citizenship has to be passed by the parliament, but the inclusion and exclusion of citizens and non-citizens from the rolls is within ECI's remit
The bench said the results of the ongoing SIR of the Bihar voter list can be set aside, as late as September, if illegality is proven.
The petitioners argued that the decision on citizenship falls in the domain of the government, specifically the Union Home Ministry, and stressed that ECI doesn't have the authority to decide citizenship and the poll body was never intended to be the policeman of citizenship.
A counsel contended that the court had said they only need to ascertain identity, and there cannot be a system where citizenship is doubted for five crore people.
Dead persons on the electoral roll surface before the apex court
At the end of the hearing, social activist Yogendra Yadav surfaced in the courtroom with two persons — a man and an aged woman — who were declared dead in the draft roll published by ECI.
Yadav said that these people were declared dead, but they don't appear to be dead. “Look, they are alive... see them... they even have Aadhaar cards and other documents but were not included in the draft rolls...” said Yadav, adding that the design of the SIR exercise was to delete the voters.
However, the apex court did not show much interest and sent them back. The bench said this could be a result of an inadvertent procedural error, which can be corrected.
Senior advocate Rakesh Dwivedi, representing the ECI, objected to the production of people before the bench told Yadav it was a drama fit for television studios. Dwivedi said they could have applied for re-inclusion on the voter list through the proper available channels as per the rules. Yadav also questioned the data given by the poll panel and said, instead of 7.9 crore voters, there was a total adult population of 8.18 crore.
The hearing in the matter will continue tomorrow.
