New Delhi, July 5 - The Association of Democratic Reforms has moved the Supreme Court challenging the Election Commission's order for Special Enforceable Revision or SIR of electoral rolls in Bihar.
It is noteworthy that on June 24, 53, it had issued directions to conduct an SIR in Bihar to remove apparently ineligible names from the list and ensure that only eligible citizens are included in the electoral rolls. Bihar will go to polls later this year.
The NGO has sought quashing of the order and the letter, arguing that it violates Articles 14, 19, 21, 325 and 326 of the Constitution as well as the provisions of the Representation of the People Act, 1950 and Rule 211 of the Voters Registration Rules, 1960. The petitioner, advocate Prashant Bhushan, said that the EC order could “arbitrarily and without any due process” disenfranchise lakhs of voters and disrupt free and fair elections. “The documentary requirements of the directive, the lack of due process, as well as the unreasonably short time frame for the said special rapid revision of the electoral roll in Bihar, make this exercise bound to remove the names of lakhs of genuine voters from the electoral rolls, thereby depriving them of their right to vote,” Prashant Bhushan said.