Bihar Sir: Objections can be raised beyond September 1, Election Commission tells Supreme Court

The Election Commission of India (ECI), on Monday, September 1, told the Supreme Court that objections and representations in the draft voters’ list on the ongoing Special Review Exercise (SIR) in Bihar can be filed even after the September 1 deadline.

However, these objections would be considered the finalization of the electoral roll.

A bench of Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi heard the petitions filed by the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and All India Majlis-e-ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) parties.

The parties had requested an extension of the deadline so that people could file objections and complaints in the ongoing voter list revision.

Appearing for the Election Commission (EC), senior advocate Rakesh Dwivedi told the court: “Any extension of the deadline will result in disruption of the entire exercise and finalization of the final electoral roll.”

He said 99.5 per cent of the 2.74 crore voters in the carryover project had filed the eligibility documents. He countered the RJD on its allegations of filing 36 claims, saying the party had filed only 10 such claims which were “duly accepted”, news agency PTI reported.

The EC further said that most of the complaints and objections filed by political parties to these persons whose documents were incomplete.

Court orders volunteers to help

The Supreme Court has directed the Bihar Legal Service Authority to deploy paralegal volunteers to help voters and political parties file objections and representations to the postponement bill which was released on August 1.

The bench said the entire issue arises from the “trust deficit” between the parties and the authorities.

The bench also ordered the paralegal volunteers to submit the confidential reports with the concerned district judges and posted the next hearing of the case till September 8.

The opposition has alleged that the ruling BJP government in the center and its alliance in Bihar are “stealing votes” in various parts of the country.

With the Bihar Assembly elections to be held later this year, the timing of the electoral role review has faced backlash from the opposing India Alliance.