SC on Bihar SIR: Option of 11 documents shows it is ‘voter-friendly’
The Supreme Court said despite petitioners’ arguments that non-acceptance of Aadhaar was exclusionary, it appeared the large number of documents was “actually inclusionary”
The 11 documents required to be submitted by an elector for Bihar’s special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral roll as opposed to seven documents in summary revision conducted previously showed the exercise was “voter-friendly”, the Supreme Court said on Wednesday (August 13).
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A Bench of Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi, which resumed hearing on a batch of pleas challenging the Election Commission’s (EC) decision to conduct SIR in poll-bound Bihar, said despite petitioners’ arguments that non-acceptance of Aadhaar was exclusionary, it appeared the large number of documents was “actually inclusionary”.
What SC said
The Bench said, “The number of documents in summary revision conducted earlier in the state was seven and in SIR it is 11, which shows it is voter-friendly. We understand your arguments that non-acceptance of Aadhaar is exclusionary but a high number of documents is actually inclusionary.”
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The top court noted electors were required to submit any one of the 11 documents in the list.
Senior advocate Abhishek Singhvi, appearing for the petitioners, disagreed and submitted the number of documents may be high but they had the least coverage.
Giving an example of passport availability with the electors, Singhvi said it was only one to two per cent in Bihar and they have no provision for permanent resident certificates given in the state.
Coverage of 36 lakh passport holders
“If we see the availability of documents with the population in Bihar it can be seen the coverage is very low,” he said.
The Bench said the coverage of 36 lakh passport holders in the state appears to be good.
“The list of documents is prepared normally after taking feedback from various government departments to ensure maximum coverage,” Justice Bagchi pointed out.
(With agency inputs)