Challenge To Bihar Electoral Roll Revision : Live Updates From Supreme Court

Dwivedi: Let us come to power. Section 21(3) is the source of power.

Dwivedi: I have serious objections about this. In case of ADR recently the court has deprecated for doing this and the same thing has been done by ADR once again.

J Bagchi: this is not a serious objection. This is not one of your best points right? So let let us move on to better points.

J Dhulia: for that presumption is in your favour. But they are saying that you are asking people for documents suddenly which they don't have.

Dwivedi: none of them are voters in Bihar. What is the basis? before you are some section of people who write articles and then come forward to file a petition.

Dwivedi: election commission is one constitutional body which is in direct relationship with the elector. It cannot and does not have any intent whatsoever to exclude anybody from the voter list unless and until the hands of the commission are compelled by the provision of law itself.

Dwivedi: the preparation of electoral roll the entire control over it and the entire supervision over is with ECI. With passage of time it needs revision. The only question that can be is regarding the manner of exercise of the power

J Dhulia: they are saying that water is being undertaken by you is neither summary revision nor an intensive revision but a special intensive revision which is not there in the book. And what you are questioning now is citizenship.

Senior Advocate Rakesh Dwivedi for ECI.

J Dhulia: there are three things that you have to answer. There is no question that this issue is an important issue and goes through the very root of democracy. The right to vote.

They are challenging not only the powers of the election commission to do it, challenging the procedure and the timing.

Advocate Vrinda Grover: this is a citizenship screening which is disproportionately targeting the poor, the migrants. Article 14 squarely comes in here. The poor the migrants they don't hold these documents and their own data shows that. It is not an ordinary citizenship screening it is for the vulnerable categories. From where will orphans bring these documents?

Sibal: if I am born after 1950 I am a citizen of India. If somebody has to challenge that somebody has to give me information that I am not. And if a migrant is outside the state he has to come and fill this form. And where will I get birth certificate of parents? This exercise is beyond the scope of Election Commission of India completely.

Singhvi: assuming without conceding that ECI can look at citizenship, that is under a totally different procedure. Somebody has to come and show...

Singhvi: The entire country is going mad after Aadhar and then ECI says that Aadhar will not be taken.

Singhvi: this is absolutely an exercise of doing citizenship screening.

Senior Advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi: disenfranchising even one eligible voter hits level playing field, that hits democracy and that directly hits basic structure.

Bench: We are with you on that