New Delhi [India], September 1 : The Supreme Court on Monday took note of the Election Commission of India's submission that claims and objections for voter registration in the Bihar draft roll will be considered even after the September 1 deadline and that they will be considered after the roll has been finalised.
A bench of Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi, after taking note of ECI's submission, did not pass any order to extend the September 1 deadline.
The process will continue until the last date of nominations and all inclusions or exclusions are integrated in the final roll, the bench recorded the ECI submissions.
The apex court was hearing applications filed by political parties seeking to extend the deadline by two weeks.
It also asked the Bihar Legal Services Authority (BLSA) to issue instructions to all district legal service authorities to depute or notify para-legal volunteers to assist voters or political parties for online submission of claims, objections, and corrections.
The top court also asked the BLSA to issue instructions to all district legal service authorities to depute or notify the para-legal volunteers to assist voters or political parties for online submission of claims, objections, and corrections.
Each volunteer shall thereafter submit a confidential report to the district and sessions judge (Chairman of DSLA) and that information from volunteers may be collated at the level of state legal service authorities, it said.
During the hearing, senior advocate Rakesh Dwivedi, appearing for the ECI, said that the political parties are filing objections seeking deletion of voters from the draft list and not any claims for inclusion.
He said that no party, except the RJD and the CPI(M), have assisted the voters in filing objections.
On August 22, the top court ordered that the persons who are excluded from the draft electoral roll during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in poll-bound Bihar can submit their applications for inclusion through online mode and that physical submission of forms is not necessary.
It had been said that an individual person on their own or with the assistance of booth-level agents (BLAs) of a political party is entitled to apply online and does not need to submit an application in physical form.
The bench had said all 12 political parties in Bihar shall issue specific directions to party workers to assist people in filing and submission of requisite forms with any 11 documents in Form 6 or Aadhaar Card to get themselves included in the voters list.
It had said BLAs of all political parties are directed to make an endeavour that approximately 65 lakh persons not included in the draft rolls are facilitated, except those who are dead or have voluntarily migrated, in submitting their objections by the cutoff date of September 1.
The top court was hearing a batch of petitions challenging the poll panel's move to conduct SIR of electoral rolls in Bihar.
Election Commission had also filed an affidavit saying the list of names and details of 65 lakh electors in Bihar who were not included in the draft roll published on August 1 had been posted on the websites of all 38 District Electoral Officers in the state.
The list also contained the reasons for their non-inclusion, including death, shifting of ordinary residence or duplicate entries, ECI had told the apex court.
ECI had filed an affidavit in compliance with August 14 directions of the Supreme Court directing it to publish an enumerated, booth-wise list of approximately 65 lakh electors not included in the draft electoral roll during the ongoing SIR exercise in poll-bound Bihar.
The petitions challenging the ECI decision were filed by RJD MP Manoj Jha, the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), PUCL, activist Yogendra Yadav, Trinamool MP Mahua Moitra, and former Bihar MLA Mujahid Alam.
The pleas sought direction to quash the ECI's June 24 directive that requires large sections of voters in Bihar to submit proof of citizenship to remain on the electoral rolls.
The petitions also raised concerns over the exclusion of widely held documents like Aadhaar and ration cards, stating that this would disproportionately affect the poor and marginalised voters, especially in rural Bihar.