View Of Indian Supreme court main building from the supreme court lawn In New Delhi .
A two-judge bench heard arguments from both sides, with the Election Commission asserting that the exercise is constitutionally mandated
The Supreme Court on Thursday said that the the Election Commission of India’s (ECI) decision to undertake a Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar ahead of the state’s crucial assembly elections slated for October–November this year was constitutionally valid.
A two-judge bench, hearing a batch of petitions challenging the decision, observed that the poll body’s actions are mandated under the Indian Constitution and last such exercise was undertaken in 2003.
A bench comprising Justices Sudhanshu Dhulia and Joymalya Bagchi heard arguments from both sides, with the Election Commission asserting that the exercise is constitutionally mandated and not without precedent.
The entire SIR will cover around 7.9 crore citizens, he said, adding that even the voter ID and Aadhaar cards are not being considered.
Over 10 petitions have been filed in the SC, including one by NGO ‘Association for Democratic Reforms’, the lead petitioner.
RJD MP Manoj Jha and Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra, Congress’ K C Venugopal, NCP (SP) leader Supriya Sule, CPI leader D Raja, Samajwadi Party’s Harinder Singh Malik, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Arvind Sawant, JMM’s Sarfraz Ahmed and Dipankar Bhattacharya of CPI (ML) have also moved the top court, seeking direction for quashing the EC order.
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