Supreme Court To Hear Pleas Against EC's Decision To Revise Electoral Rolls In Bihar
Among the various pleas filed in the top court are those from prominent leaders like Rashtriya Janata Dal MP Manoj Jha and Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra.
The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to hear a batch of petitions that challenge the Election Commission of India's decision to conduct a special intensive revision of electoral rolls in Bihar, ahead of the upcoming assembly polls.
A partial working day (PWD) bench, consisting of Justices Sudhanshu Dhulia and Joymalya Bagchi, acknowledged the arguments from several senior lawyers, including Kapil Sibal, representing the petitioners, and scheduled the hearing for July 10.
Sibal requested the bench issue notices to the election body regarding the petitions, to which Justice Dhulia responded, "We will have it on Thursday."
Among the various pleas filed in the top court are those from prominent leaders like Rashtriya Janata Dal MP Manoj Jha and Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra, all contesting the poll body's directive for the special intensive revision of Bihar's electoral rolls.
Jha said the EC's June 24 order be quashed for being violative of Articles 14 (fundamental right to equality), 21 (fundamental right to life and liberty), 325 (no person can be excluded from electoral roll based on caste, religion and sex) and 326 (every citizen of India who has attained 18 years of age is eligible to be registered as a voter) of the Constitution.
A similar plea has also been filed by NGO Association of Democratic Reforms, challenging the poll body's direction for SIR of electoral rolls in Bihar.
Several other civil society organisations like PUCL and activists like Yogendra Yadav have approached the top court against the EC's order.
The EC on June 24 issued instructions to carry out SIR in Bihar, apparently to weed out ineligible names and ensure only eligible citizens are included in the electoral roll. The last such revision in Bihar was conducted in 2003.
(With PTI inputs)
