Former Bihar MLA Mujahid Alam Moves Supreme Court Against ECI Order For Revision Of State Electoral Rolls Ahead Of Assembly Elections

Former Bihar MLA Mujahid Alam has approached the Supreme Court challenging the Election Commission of India's decision to hold a "Special Intensive Revision" of electoral rolls in Bihar ahead of the state's 18th Assembly elections.

He contends that the ECI order is violative of Articles 14, 21, 325 and 326 of the Constitution and carries a threat of disenfranchisement of Bihar voters, with a further potential of being used as a tool for disproportionately impacting Muslim, Dalit and poor migrant communities.

Pursuant to an urgent mentioning today before the top Court, certain other petitions challenging the ECI's decision to conduct a "Special Intensive Revision" of the electoral rolls in Bihar were listed for hearing on July 10.

In the petition filed by Mujahid Alam, it is claimed that majority voters of Kochadham constituency are out-migrants and it would be improbable for them to return to the state for submission of enumeration forms.

"out of the total number of voters i.e. 2,73,000 in the Kochadhaman Assembly Constituency; 60% of male voters are out-migrants, having relocated to other States for gainful employment. It is highly improbable/unrealistic to expect such out-migrants to return to the State to submit the enumeration form. These out-migrants face a threat of automatic deletion of their names on non-submission of enumeration forms within the stipulated thirty days."

Besides the above, the plea highlights monsoon troubles that would impact Bihar voters in the coming months and make submission of required documents highly difficult.

"The ongoing SIR process is not only rushed and poorly timed, but failed to consider that much of the Kochadhaman Assembly Constituency in the State of Bihar, suffers from monsoon, and flash floods during the months of July to October every year, making the process of submission of enumeration forms and subsequent dealing of claims/objections highly impossible. This action severely impinges on the 'Right to Vote' enshrined under Article 326 of the Constitution."

Like RJD MP Manoj Jha, the former MLA points out issues with the ECI's demand of 11 documents from the proposed voters. It is highlighted that commonly held IDs like Aadhaar card, Ration card and MNREGA job card have been excluded from the list.

Further, the petition underscores the "monumental gap" between the number of enumeration forms distributed, collected and uploaded by ECI which according to the former MLA renders the SIR schedule unachievable in the next 20 days.

"as per the recent statistics, while the Election Commission has distributed enumeration forms to around 94% of the potential voters, it has managed to collect only 14% of them in the first 10 days of the SIR process. Furthermore, there is a monumental gap in the number of forms that have been uploaded, with around 24 lakhs of 1.12 being uploaded."

Mujahid Alam is an ex-JDU member and was earlier an MLA from Kochadhaman constituency in Bihar. Currently, he is not associated with any political party.

The petition is filed through AoR Ujjwal Singh.

So far, four pleas have been filed challenging the ECI's decision for revision of electoral rolls in Bihar. These include petitions filed by RJD MP Manoj Jha; the Association for Democratic Reforms, PUCL, activist Yogendra Yadav and Lok Sabha MP Mahua Moitra.

Case Title: Mujahid Alam v. Election Commission of India and Another