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

Sibal: Bihar government survey shows that negligible amount of people have the certificates. Passport 2.5% matriculation 14.71%, negligible number of people has the forest right certificate negligible number of people have Residency certificate, OBC certificates. Birth certificate is excluded Aadhar is excluded MNREGA card is excloluded

J Dhulia: for that they have to see citizenship because only citizen can vote.

Sibal: the burden is not on me to prove citizenship. Before they remove me from electoral roll they have to show that they have some document in their possession that proves that I am not a citizen.

Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal: please appreciate what they are doing. They are saying if you don't fill a form you will not be allowed to vote.

J Dhulia: is it not their mandate that a person who is not qualified should not vote and the person who is qualified should be in the list?

ECI Counsel: let the revision exercise be completed. And then your lordships can look at the entire picture.

J Dhulia: you know that once the list is completed and notified no court will touch it.

ECI counsel: we will show it before it is finalized

Bench: your decision let us say to disenfranchise the person who is already there on the electoral roll of 2025 would compel this individual to appeal against decision and go through this entire rigmarole and thereby be denied of his right to vote in the ensuing election. There is nothing wrong in you purging electoral rolls through an intensive exercise in order to see that non citizens don't remain on the role. But if you decide only a couple of months before a proposed election...

ECI counsel: Aadhar Card cannot be used as proof of citizenship.

Bench: that is a different tissue and the prerogative of home ministry.

ECI Counsel: even the RP act says that one has to be a citizen to vote.

Bench: Isn't it too late now for that?

J Bagchi: the list is not an exhaustive list.

Sankarnarayanan: 2020 the ECI has already clarified that.

Bench: so have the actually rejected Aadhar card? We will ask a clarification.

ECI counsel: we have not reached that stage yet

Sankarnarayanan: main issue in all the petitions is the omission of Aadhar and the election commission identity card from the list of documents for the purpose of enumeration.

J Dhulia: don't stretch it so far. There is a practical element to all this. They are doing this so that these people are already verified. Where does Article 14 come here? Be on the Highway. Main main point batao

Sankarnarayanan: all members of judiciary public representative prominent personalities from fields of arts culture journalism sports and public services etc.... there cannot be any categorisation like this election commission is doing. Every vote is supposed to be equal so where is the question of this guideline. But I don't want to press this too much.