Pleas in SC challenge EC’s revision of electoral rolls

Voter list needs to be updated before every election, says CEC

- Abraham Thomas

The Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR) and political activist Yogendra Yadav have filed petitions in the Supreme Court, challenging the Election Commission's (EC) decision to undertake a special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in poll-bound Bihar, with the development coming amid a political uproar over the controversial move.

ADR, a nonprofit working on electoral and political reforms, in its petition alleged that the June 24 directive of EC to carry out an SIR in Bihar was arbitrary and unconstitutional, and that the move will lead to disenfranchisement of nearly 30 million citizens in the state. Yadav, on the other, questioned the timing of SIR, claiming that a “de novo (afresh) preparation of the rolls, just six months after a detailed survey, two months after a revision of rolls and a few months before state elections betrays complete nonapplication of mind by the ECI, and renders the present process manifestly arbitrary.”