New Delhi, July 7- The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to hear on July 10 various petitions challenging the Election Commission's decision to conduct Special Comprehensive Revision (SIR) of voter lists in Bihar, which is going to polls later this year.
On a partial working day, the bench of Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia and Justice Joymalya Bagchi took cognizance of the submissions of a group of senior advocates led by Kapil Sibal on behalf of several petitioners and agreed to hear the petitions on Thursday.
Appearing for Rashtriya Janata Dal MP Manoj Jha, Sibal urged the bench to issue notice to the election panel on the petitions. He said that completing the revision within the time limit is an impossible task (as the elections are likely to be held in November).
Senior advocate Abhishek Singhvi, appearing for another petitioner, said that there are about eight crore voters in the state, out of which about four crore voters will have to submit their documents under this exercise. Singhvi added, “The time table is very strict and if you do not submit the documents by July 25, you will be removed from the electoral rolls,” .
Senior advocate Gopal Shankarnarayanan, appearing for another petitioner, said that the election panel officials are not accepting Aadhaar cards and voter cards as documents for this exercise.
Justice Dhulia said that the matter will be listed on Thursday and said that there is no issue of time table at this time as the election dates have not been announced yet. The bench asked the petitioners to give prior notice of their petitions to the counsel for the Election Commission of India.
It is noteworthy that several petitioners, including leaders like Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) MP Manoj Jha and Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra, have filed petitions in the Supreme Court. The NGO Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR) on electoral reforms has also filed a similar petition, challenging the election body's orders for SIR of voter lists in Bihar.