The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to hear petitions challenging the Election Commission’s decision to carry out a special intensive revision of electoral rolls in Bihar on July 10, Live Law reported.

The special intensive revision of the electoral rolls in Bihar was announced by the Election Commission on June 24, ahead of the Assembly elections expected to be held in the state in October or November.

As part of the exercise, persons whose names were not on the 2003 voter list will need to submit proof of eligibility to vote. This means that 2.9 crore out of the state’s 7.8 crore voters – or about 37% of the electors – will have to submit documentary evidence.

Petitions against the exercise have been filed by Rashtriya Janata Dal MP Manoj Kumar Jhal, Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra, non-governmental organisations Association for Democratic Reforms and People’s Union for Civil Liberties and activist Yogendra Yadav.

The lawyers representing the petitioners on Monday mentioned the matter before a two-judge bench of Justices Sudhanshu Dhulia and Joymalya Bagchi, requesting an urgent hearing. They argued that if voters do not submit forms along with specific documents by the deadline, their names could be removed from the voter list, even if they have been voting for over two decades.

Advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, representing one of the petitioners, told the court that the Election Commission’s June 24 notification imposed a strict deadline on marginalised voters to produce documents, and that the accepted documents did not include commonly used ones such as Aadhaar and ration cards, The Hindu reported.

The court, while agreeing to hear the case on July 10, allowed the petitioners to give advance notice to the Election Commission.

Revision of electoral rolls

The special intensive revision guidelines state that the voters born before July 1, 1987, must show proof of their date and place of birth, while those born between July 1, 1987, and December 2, 2004, must also submit documents establishing the date and place of birth of one of their parents. Those born after December 2, 2004, will need proof of date of birth for themselves and both parents.

If the officers are satisfied with the details provided, the voters will be re-enrolled to a new voter list by electoral registration officers. If not, they will be removed from the voter lists.

A draft roll will be published on August 1 and the final roll will be out on September 30.

On Wednesday, eleven INDIA bloc parties told the Election Commission that the exercise risked disenfranchising more than 2.5 crore voters, as they may not be able to produce the necessary documents.

Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar on Sunday defended the ongoing special intensive revision of Bihar’s electoral rolls, claiming that the exercise had to be carried out as no one was satisfied with the current voter rolls.

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