The Supreme Court on Wednesday validated the Election Commission's decision to conduct a Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of Bihar's electoral rolls, rejecting the opposition's stance that it was an arbitrary and exclusionary exercise. The court stated that the SIR was carried out as per the EC's constitutional mandate of ensuring free and fair elections, which are founded on the integrity, accuracy, and purity of voter lists.
Court's Observations on Citizenship Inquiry
A bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi also held that in the preparation of electoral rolls, the poll panel has the right to conduct a preliminary inquiry into the citizenship of a person seeking to be included as a voter, as only an Indian citizen can exercise the right to franchise.
Writing the 124-page judgment disposing of a dozen petitions filed by NGO Association for Democratic Reforms, social activist Yogendra Yadav, TMC's Mahua Moitra, RJD's Manoj Kumar Jha, and Congress's K C Venugopal, among others, CJI Kant said, "The EC is empowered, in the exercise of its constitutional mandate, to undertake a limited enquiry into citizenship for the purpose of satisfying itself as to eligibility for inclusion in the electoral roll."
Repudiation of Petitioners' Stand
This marks a repudiation of the petitioners' stand that the EC had no power to inquire into the citizenship status of voters for the purpose of inclusion or deletion from voter lists. However, the Supreme Court clarified that such an enquiry does not amount to a determination of citizenship in the strict sense, and any subsequent action is confined to electoral consequences alone.
Direction to Send Deleted Voters' List to MHA
While upholding the SIR of Bihar electoral rolls, the Supreme Court directed the EC to send the list of names of those deleted from voter lists due to 'doubtful citizenship' to the competent authority (home ministry) within four weeks for adjudication of their citizenship under the Citizenship Act, 1955. This order comes amid tougher scrutiny of citizenship claims and tightening of borders, and the details gathered by the EC can potentially help the home ministry with detection and deportation of aliens who may have illegally crossed over from Bangladesh.
"The competent authority shall take the necessary decision in accordance with law, preferably before the next parliamentary, assembly, or local body elections, whichever is earlier, after giving notice and an opportunity of hearing to the deleted individuals, if any," the bench said, adding that if they are found to be Indian citizens, their names would be included in electoral rolls.
Validity of SIR Exercise
On the need to conduct the SIR exercise in Bihar, which the petitioners had questioned, the bench said that as it was being carried out after a lapse of 23 years, and given the nature of problems it intended to address and the scale of the exercise, coupled with procedural safeguards, the EC cannot be held to have carried out the mandate arbitrarily.
The challenge to the number of documents required to be produced by voters during SIR scrutiny was also rejected by the CJI-led bench, which said, "The classification of documents, including the exclusion of certain categories (apart from Aadhaar Card, which was directed to be included by the Supreme Court on September 8 last year), is based on intelligible criteria having a direct nexus with the objective of ensuring the integrity of the electoral roll."
