sc-terms-trust-gap-between-ec-and-political-parties-unfortunate

The Supreme Court on Monday described as “unfortunate” the trust deficit between political parties and the Election Commission over the revision of electoral rolls in Bihar, even as it directed that objections to the draft list may continue to be filed beyond the official deadline.

 

A Bench of Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi was hearing pleas seeking more time to file objections against the draft rolls published under the Special Intensive Revision (SIR). The court noted that the process of updating voter lists was not frozen and would run until the last date for filing nominations.

 

“The process will continue until the last date of nominations and all inclusions/exclusions are integrated in the final roll. In light of this stand, let the claims/objections/corrections be continued to be filed,” the Bench observed.

 

Appearing for the Election Commission, senior advocate Rakesh Dwivedi insisted that “people of Bihar do not have a problem” with the exercise. “Only the petitioners see red,” he said. According to the poll body, most objections so far sought removal of names, while requests for inclusion were far fewer.

Also read: Special Observer reviews SIR in Bihar

 

The petitioners, represented by advocate Prashant Bhushan for the Association for Democratic Reforms, countered that the “lack of transparency” was the real issue. To this, Dwivedi responded that the “problem is with the mindset to disrupt.”

 

The Election Commission had earlier resisted extending the September 1 deadline, warning that it would derail the timetable for finalising the voter list before the elections. The Commission argued that pushing the deadline further would make it a “non-ending exercise.”

 

Justice Kant suggested that volunteers from the district legal services authority could help address grievances in the exercise, given the sensitivity of electoral rolls in a poll-bound state.

 

The controversy comes against a political backdrop where Opposition parties have repeatedly accused the Commission of siding with the BJP to manipulate the process, charges the Commission has dismissed as baseless. The BJP, in turn, has alleged that the Opposition, led by Congress, is attempting to malign the institution to mask its electoral defeats.