SC asks EC for details of 3.66 lakh excluded voters from Bihar electoral roll
The Supreme Court on Tuesday asked the Election Commission (EC) to provide details of 3.66 lakh voters excluded from the final electoral roll prepared after Bihar’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise.
The EC informed the apex court that most of the names added are of new voters and that no complaint or appeal has been filed so far by any excluded voter. A bench comprising Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi directed the poll panel to submit whatever information it has on the excluded voters by Thursday, October 9, when further hearings will take place.
The top court noted that everyone has access to the draft electoral roll and that the final list was published on September 30. Therefore, the required data can be furnished through a comparative analysis. The bench observed that since the number of electors in the final list shows an increase from the draft rolls, to avoid any confusion, the identities of the additions should be disclosed.
EC representative Dwivedi replied that most added names belong to new voters, while a few are older voters whose names were added after the draft roll was published.
On September 30, while publishing the final electoral list of poll-bound Bihar, the EC stated that the total number of electors decreased by nearly 47 lakh to 7.42 crore in the final electoral roll, compared to 7.89 crore before the SIR. However, the final figure has increased by 17.87 lakh from the 7.24 crore electors named in the draft list issued on August 1, which had removed 65 lakh voters from the original list. In total, 17.87 lakh new electors were added to the draft list.
**Congress Slams EC Over SIR**
On Tuesday, the Congress party criticized the Election Commission, alleging it lacked the integrity or courage to disclose how many non-citizens were removed from Bihar’s voter list following the SIR exercise.
Congress General Secretary in-charge of Communications, Jairam Ramesh, shared on X an analysis published in a newspaper. The report claimed that while Supreme Court interventions allayed fears of mass disenfranchisement, the SIR exercise left much to be desired regarding accuracy, equity, transparency, and fairness.
Ramesh stated, “This fine analysis shows that the entire SIR exercise bulldozed through by the Election Commission has failed on all three counts of completeness, equity, and accuracy.”
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