Excluding non-citizens from voter rolls is within EC remit, says Supreme Court

The Supreme Court on Tuesday observed that the Election Commission has the authority to include citizens and exclude non-citizens from the voter rolls, Bar and Bench reported.

A bench of Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi was hearing a clutch of petitions challenging the revision of electoral rolls in Bihar ahead of the Assembly elections.

Kant noted that it is not the Election Commission but the Aadhaar Act that says the unique identification number is not proof of citizenship.

However, the court on Tuesday objected to the practice of allowing prospective voters to only submit a self-declaration of citizenship to be included in the voter rolls, The Indian Express reported.

The remarks came after advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for the petitioners, told the court that it was not within the Election Commission’s remit to decide on citizenship.

“This entire exercise is without jurisdiction,” Bhushan contended, according to The Indian Express. “Because the ECI has converted itself into an agency that flags citizenship.

The court, however, said that while Parliament has the authority to pass laws on citizenship, once such a law is passed, it is within the Election Commission’s jurisdiction to include citizens in the electoral rolls, and to exclude non-citizens.

Bhushan also highlighted before the court that the poll body had changed the draft rolls to make them hard to read by machines.

Scroll had reported on Saturday that the Election Commission had replaced the digital draft voter lists in Bihar with scanned images of the voter lists on its official websites.

The digital draft lists are machine-readable and easier to analyse for errors and patterns on a large scale. The scanned versions make this process harder.

“On August 4, the draft roll was searchable,” Bar and Bench quoted Bhushan as saying. “After August 6, they have removed it and now names cannot be searched. That was suspicious.”

“Why should I, as a citizen, not know from their document and should ask an agent of the political party?” Bhushan asked.

The court agreed and verbally held that “voters and all bona fide citizens have a right” to know, The Indian Express reported.

The matter will continue being heard by the Supreme Court on Wednesday.

Bihar voter roll revision

The revision of the electoral rolls in Bihar was announced by the Election Commission on June 24.

As part of the exercise, persons whose names were not on the 2003 voter list needed to submit proof of eligibility to vote.

Voters born before July 1, 1987, were required to show proof of their date and place of birth, while those born between July 1, 1987, and December 2, 2004, had to also submit documents establishing the date and place of birth of one of their parents.

Those born after December 2, 2004, needed proof of date of birth for themselves and both parents.

The draft voter list, published on August 1, comprises electors who submitted their enumeration forms to the poll panel between June 24 and July 26. They will now have to produce proof of citizenship to make it to the final list that will be published on September 30.

Also read:

• EC replaces digital draft voter lists in Bihar with scanned images that make finding errors harder

• Highest exclusion in Bihar draft roll: Women, Muslim-dominant districts