SC backs poll roll drive, but questions its timing

The Supreme Court on Thursday asked the Election Commission of India (ECI) to also consider Aadhaar cards, voter IDs and ration cards in its ongoing special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar, even as it agreed to examine whether the poll body's exercise violated legal provisions or could potentially lead to mass disenfranchisement ahead of assembly elections due later this year.

- Utkarsh Anand and Abraham Thomas

Underlining that the matter "goes to the root of the functioning of the democratic republic" and involves "the right to vote," a bench of Justices Sudhanshu Dhulia and Joymalya Bagchi said it would examine three key questions -- ECI's powers to conduct such an exercise, the manner in which the SIR is being conducted, and its timing, and fixed the matter for next hearing on July 28.

The court also directed the poll body to file its counter affidavit within a week and noted that no interim order was being passed at this stage since, by the ECI’s own schedule, the draft electoral rolls were to be published on August 1.

“We are of the prima facie view that it will be in the interest of justice if the ECI also considers Aadhaar, voter ID cards, and ration cards among the acceptable documents for enumeration,” the bench said.

It also observed that the draft rolls should not be finalised until then, a direction that came after the court expressed serious doubt whether the massive statewide exercise could be completed within the ECI's strict timeline.