On June 24, the Election Commission of India (ECI) announced that it will begin a Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls in Bihar ahead of its State Assembly elections, with the “objective” of revising the electoral rolls in the State to include all eligible voters and eliminate ineligible voters from the voter list. Expectedly, the Opposition parties smelled a rat and, under the banner of the Association for Democratic Reforms, approached the Supreme Court of India to adjudicate whether such a step, just before the elections were due, was legally tenable and morally justified.
The apex court is now mandated to pass judgment on four crucial issues – does the ECI’s SIR notification for Bihar violate fundamental rights under Articles 14, 19 and 21 of the Constitution; was the decision arbitrary and without proper justification; does the SIR process violate principles of due process and natural justice, especially concerning voter deletion, and is the timeline for conducting the SIR practical and reasonable? While the ECI has justified the exercise by citing factors like rapid urbanisation, frequent migration, the addition of newly eligible young voters, underreporting of deaths and the inclusion of names of foreign illegal immigrants, the Opposition parties apprehend that the captive poll body is out to doctor the electoral rolls in favour of the ruling NDA by removing the names of lakhs of voters expected to vote against it.
The petitioners opposing the SIR object that the identification process shifts the burden of proof onto individual citizens, requiring fresh applications and documentary evidence of citizenship, when it was the bounden duty of the State to prove an individual to be a citizen or not. The ECI has also excluded indicators like Aadhaar and ration cards and made the proof of parents’ identity mandatory.
Such steps and the short time given, and considering Bihar’s high rates of poverty and migration, the petitioners fear that the SIR may disenfranchise millions of people in the State. The sad reality, of course, is that the current political ecology heightens the possibility of constitutionally established bodies like the ECI making an attempt to tamper with the voters’ list.
Yet there are two sides to the coin, and the possibility that lakhs of individuals who are not eligible to vote have found a place in the old electoral rolls is equally real! It is up to the learned justices of the apex court to mull over the conundrum and pass a judgment which will resolve it in a truly non-partisan and democratic manner. How crucial the issues raised by the ECI decision are pertinent to elections even in other States like Assam can well be imagined. The apex court’s judgment on the issues and subsequent developments will not only have consequences for Bihar, but also Assam where Assembly elections are due next year.