We'll need some facts, figures on SIR of Bihar electoral rolls: SC to ECI

The Supreme Court of India had earlier said that it will step in immediately in case of a 'mass exclusion' in the SIR of the electoral rolls in Bihar

The Supreme Court (SC) on Tuesday told the Election Commission of India (ECI) that it will be asking questions regarding the facts and figures on the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls conducted in Bihar shortly ahead of the assembly polls.

During the hearing of petitions against the ECI, Justice Surya Kant said, "We are going to need some facts and figures," according to the news agency PTI.

A Bench of Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi began hearing senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Manoj Jha, the report said.

Pointing out inconsistencies

While the poll panel claimed that 12 people were dead in one constituency, they were found alive, whereas alive persons were declared dead in some cases, argued Sibal.

Responding to this, Senior advocate Rakesh Dwivedi, who was appearing for the poll panel, said that such exercises are "bound to have some defects". He further said that such mistakes can be corrected since it was only a draft roll.

The draft roll was published on August 1, with the final roll expected on September 30.

Top court assures credibility

On July 29, the top court said that it would step in immediately in case of a "mass exclusion" in the SIR of electoral rolls.

However, the opposition maintains that the revision will deprive millions of eligible citizens of their right to vote.

The apex court, on July 10, had asked the EC to consider Aadhaar, ration cards, and voter ID as valid documents after allowing the poll panel to continue with the revision of electoral rolls.

Multiple leaders, organisations filed complaints

Apart from RJD MP Jha, several other leaders and civil society institutions also filed complaints against the revision of electoral rolls shortly before the polls.

Some of the leaders who moved SC include Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra, Supriya Sule from the Sharad Pawar NCP faction, Congress' K C Venugopal, and Arvind Sawant from Shiv Sena (Uddhav Thackeray).

Civil society bodies, including PUCL, NGO Association of Democratic Reforms, and activists like Yogendra Yadav, also moved the SC against the EC order.