Today, On 10th July, the Supreme Court will hear petitions challenging the Election Commission’s revision of Bihar’s electoral rolls. The move, coming before upcoming elections, has triggered legal and political concerns across the state.
The Supreme Court is set to hear a series of petitions Today, that challenge the Election Commission’s decision to revise the electoral rolls in Bihar, which is preparing for elections.
A Bench comprising Justices Sudhanshu Dhulia and Joymalya Bagchi will review the today.
On Monday, the Justice Dhulia-led Bench agreed to prioritize the hearing of these petitions after a group of lawyers, including senior advocates Kapil Sibal, Abhishek Manu Singhvi, Gopal Sankaranarayanan, and Shadan Farasat, urged for an urgent review.
Also Read: Bihar Legislative Council || Supreme Court Prohibits Bypoll Results Announcement
Multiple petitions have been submitted to the Supreme Court, arguing that if the Election Commission’s June 26 order for a Special Intensive Revision (SIR) is not set-aside , it could “arbitrarily” and “without due process” disenfranchise thousands of voters, thereby undermining free and fair elections—an essential aspect of the Constitution’s basic structure.
Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Mahua Moitra, in her petition, expressed concerns that a similar second revision of the voters list might occur in West Bengal. She has requested the Supreme Court to prevent the Election Commission from issuing SIR orders for electoral rolls in other states across the country.
Ms. Moitra, represented by her advocate Neha Rathi, claimed that this is the “very first time in the country” that the Election Commission is conducting such a process, requiring voters, whose names already appear on the electoral rolls and who have voted multiple times in the past, to reprove their eligibility.
Her plea notes that the SIR requirement for voters to prove their eligibility with additional documentation is “absurd,” especially since most of them have already participated in both Assembly and general elections based on their existing qualifications.
In the midst of this controversy, the Election Commission on Wednesday shared an excerpt from Article 326 of the Constitution of India on X, seemingly to justify the ongoing SIR process in Bihar ahead of the upcoming Assembly elections.
The poll body quoted,
“The elections to the House of the People and to the Legislative Assembly of every State shall be on the basis of adult suffrage; that is to say, every person who is a citizen of India and who is not less than twenty-one years of age on such date as may be fixed in that behalf by or under any law made by the appropriate Legislature and is not otherwise disqualified under this Constitution or any law made by the appropriate Legislature on the ground of non-residence, unsoundness of mind, crime or corrupt or illegal practice, shall be entitled to be registered as a voter at any such election,”
Read Attachment
FOLLOW US FOR MORE LEGAL UPDATES ON YOUTUBE
