New Delhi, July 12 Senior Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi on Saturday outlined five major concerns raised by the Congress with regard to the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls currently underway in Bihar.
Speaking on behalf of the INDIA bloc during arguments in the Supreme Court, Singhvi criticised the Election Commission’s (EC) move, calling it legally and constitutionally questionable.
Singhvi, at a press conference here, said the EC has announced that it will not alter the names of those who were on the electoral rolls prior to 2003. However, those added after 2003 will be categorised as ‘suspect voters’.
“People will be required to prove their citizenship, failing which their names will be deleted, even if they have been on the voter list for years,” Singhvi said, calling it the first major objection.
“The onus of proving citizenship lies with the people, not the Election Commission,” he added.
Singhvi’s second point focused on the classification of post-2003 voters into three categories, each with distinct documentation requirements. First, individuals must produce their own birth certificates. Second, they must provide either their own or a parent’s birth certificate. And the third, they produce both their own and their parents’ birth certificates.
“If a person fails to meet these criteria, they will be struck off the rolls,” he said.
On the third point, Singhvi asserted that this entire exercise is being conducted through an administrative order without any legal amendments.
“The Election Commission is scrutinising citizenship -- a power it does not possess under the law,” he said.
The fourth concern was based on a past Supreme Court judgment that distinguishes between two sets of voters -- those seeking fresh inclusion and those who have been on the rolls for years.
“The Court had ruled that names already on the list cannot be removed without due judicial process. Yet, in Bihar, the EC is bypassing this safeguard through an administrative order -- and that too in a rushed manner,” Singhvi said.
Lastly, Singhvi raised an alarm over the sheer scale of voters affected.
“Nearly 5 crore voters have been marked as ‘suspect’. If even 2 crore of them are barred from voting, out of Bihar’s 8 crore-strong electorate, how can that be a free and fair election?”
He warned that such a process undermines the core principles of democracy.
“A level playing field is the bedrock of free elections. This exercise is not only dangerous but bizarre. It threatens the basic structure of our Constitution,” Singhvi said.
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