PATNA: The Supreme Court’s decision to let a contentious voter list revision in poll-bound Bihar proceed has deepened political divisions, triggering sharp exchanges between the ruling NDA and the Opposition.
On Thursday, the top court refused to stay the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls and asked the Election Commission (EC) to consider Aadhaar, Voter ID and ration cards as valid documents during the exercise in the poll bound state.
Bihar Deputy Chief Minister and senior BJP leader Vijay Kumar Sinha said the BJP and NDA welcomed every decision of the judiciary and criticised the Opposition for “double standards” on the issue.
“They (the Opposition) say that they trust the Election Commission, but at the same time they insult the constitutional institution. If there is 100 percent voting, awareness is created among voters, and everyone gets the right to vote, why do they have objections to this?" he asked.
NDA partner JD(U), headed by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, said the Supreme Court order was a "rap on the knuckles" for the Opposition, which had called a bandh a day earlier in protest against the Special Intensive Revision (SIR).
JD(U) spokesperson Rajiv Ranjan Prasad said, "Leaders like Rahul Gandhi and Tejashwi Yadav had hit the streets yesterday in what looked like an attempt to put pressure on the apex court a day ahead of the hearing."
"However, the court order is a rap on the knuckles for these parties, which were questioning the authority of the Election Commission, even though its powers are well defined in the Constitution. The SIR has been getting an enthusiastic response. It is likely that the exercise would be complete before the next date of hearing on July 28," added the JD(U) leader.
Meanwhile, Shakti Singh Yadav, spokesperson for the top opposition party RJD, alleged that the comments made by the Supreme Court while hearing the petition on the SIR exposed the Election Commission.
He said the Supreme Court told the EC to consider Aadhaar, voter ID, and ration cards as proof for Bihar poll revision, which the Opposition had been continuously demanding.
This will come as a big shock to those who are planning to remove the names of the poor, Dalits, backward, extremely backward, and minorities from the voter list, Yadav claimed.
CPI(ML) general secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya, another key Opposition leader in the state and one of the petitioners, issued a statement claiming "the Supreme Court order corroborates the basic fears and objections of the electorate."
Bhattacharya hailed the court's advice to the EC to include Aadhaar, voter ID cards, and ration cards in the acceptable list of documents as being "in the interest of justice" and voicing "common demand of every voter on the ground."
He also urged the apex court to "take note of two other basic worries", which include "no acknowledgement receipts upon submission of enumeration forms" and the "risk of disenfranchisement faced by migrant workers", who may not be in a position to return from their places of work to fill up these forms.
However, the Left leader scoffed at the EC for "citing numbers to claim smooth and rapid progress of the drive."
Meanwhile, Jan Suraaj Party founder Prashant Kishor said that an Indian citizen above the age of 18 under Article 326 had the fundamental right to vote. He said the Election Commission could not deprive anyone of their right to vote by entangling them in useless documents.
“We are hopeful of getting justice from the court,” he remarked.
PN Jha, a retired central government employee from Patna, said the Election Commission should include Aadhaar, ration card, and voter ID in the list of valid documents for the SIR exercise. He said this would make the exercise easier, as people were currently facing problems due to the exclusion of these documents.
Vicky Kumar, a graduate student at Magadh University in Bodh Gaya, said all these cards should be considered valid for the SIR exercise. He added that the revision of electoral rolls should have been held either after the last Lok Sabha elections or after the upcoming assembly polls.
