NEW DELHI: Tamil Nadu government on Wednesday told the Supreme Court that 88% of voters excluded from the draft electoral rolls during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise in the state under ‘logical discrepancies in voter mapping’ had not received hearing notices.
Senior lawyer Kapil Sibal, appearing for the state, told a bench headed by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, “notices have been generated only for 18 lakh people. There is a gap of 88%. These people have not received notices. The phase is ending on January 30. If a hearing is delayed, the situation would become fait accompli.” When Sibal alleged mass deletions of names from the voter list, the top court said, “Additions and deletions are part of the electoral roll revision exercise undertaken by the Election Commission.”
Delving into the issue of admissibility of Aadhaar card as one of the proofs, the top court pointed out that the possibility of forgery cannot be a ground to reject the 12-digit biometric identifier.
The court also told the ECI that if a document is recognised by a statute, it cannot be discarded merely because a private entity is involved in its issuance.
The senior lawyer further questioned the transparency, timing and legal basis of the SIR exercise. “Who decides if I am a citizen of India? It is the Government of India, not the Election Commission,” Sibal pointed out and added that the electoral registration officers cannot effectively decide citizenship while processing objections or deletions under Form 7. Arguments would continue on Thursday.
The top court was hearing a batch of pleas challenging the ECI’s decision to conduct the mammoth exercise of SIR of electoral rolls in several states, including TN, Bihar and others.
Defending the SIR exercise, the ECI maintained that Aadhaar and voter identity cards can’t be treated as conclusive proof of citizenship.