SC opens online SIR claim window

Allows excluded voters to upload forms along with Aadhaar copy or one of 11 documents

- SUCHITRA KALYAN MOHANTY

THE Supreme Court on Friday directed the Election Commission of India (ECI) to allow excluded voters to submit their claims online, adding it was not mandatory to make physical submissions in the special intensive revision (SIR) exercise of electoral roll in poll-bound Bihar.

It also allowed the excluded voters to submit their Aadhaar card copy or one of the 11 documents the poll body had sought during the SIR exercise.

The order came after the ECI reported compliance of the court’s earlier directive to publish online the names of the 65 lakh voters proposed to be dropped from the Bihar draft roll, during the SIR drive.