Lakhs in Bihar may lose vote, ADR tells SC

NEW DELHI: Election Commission's peculiar intensive revision (SIR) of Bihar's electoral rolls conscionable months earlier assembly polls has been challenged successful Supreme Court with Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) telling the tribunal that the determination has been taken arbitrarily with an impractical timeline and that it would disenfranchise lakhs of people, peculiarly from marginalised communities.

This is against escaped and just election, the organisation said.ADR, connected whose pleas SC has successful the past passed aggregate orders to bring successful electoral reforms, said successful its petition that SIR's request for citizenship documentation disproportionately affects marginalised communities, including Muslims, SCs, STs and migrant workers, arsenic Aadhaar and ration cards are not acceptable. Many radical who didn't person the requisite documents mightiness not beryllium capable to procure it wrong the abbreviated clip play fixed by EC, it said."The SIR order, if not acceptable aside, tin arbitrarily and without owed process disenfranchise lakhs of voters from electing their representatives, thereby disrupting escaped and just elections and ideology successful the country," the petition said. "The documentation requirements of the directive, deficiency of owed process arsenic good arsenic the unreasonably abbreviated timeline for SIR of electoral rotation successful Bihar further marque this workout bound to effect successful removal of names of lakhs of genuine voters from electoral rolls," it said.

The EC bid has "shifted the onus of being connected the voters' database from the State to citizens. It has excluded recognition documents specified arsenic Aadhaar oregon ration cards which further makes marginalised communities and the mediocre much susceptible to exclusion from voting", it said. "The declaration arsenic required nether SIR process is violative of Article 326 successful truthful acold arsenic it requires a elector to supply documents to beryllium his/her citizenship and besides citizenships of his/her parent oregon father, failing which his/her sanction would not beryllium added to the draught electoral rotation and tin beryllium deleted from the same," the petition saidTerming the timeline fixed by EC for SIR arsenic unreasonable and impractical, the petition said lakhs of citizens who didn't person the required documents whitethorn not beryllium capable to procure the documents wrong the abbreviated time."Bihar is simply a authorities with precocious poorness and migration rates wherever galore deficiency entree to documents similar commencement certificates oregon parental records. As per estimates, implicit 3 crore voters and much peculiarly from marginalised communities could beryllium excluded from voting owed to the stringent requirements arsenic mentioned successful the SIR order. That the existent reports from Bihar, wherever SIR is already underway, amusement that lakhs of voters from villages and marginalised communities bash not person the documents arsenic being sought for them," the petition said.Questioning EC's determination allegedly taken successful haste, the petition pointed retired that the committee successful May listed 21 initiatives to amended elector entree and to streamline canvass absorption but the SIR of electoral rolls was not mentioned.