Exclusion of non-citizens from voter list within EC’s remit: Supreme Court

The Supreme Court on Tuesday said the the Election Commission (EC) had the power to take a call on exclusion of non-citizens from electoral rolls.

The observation came on petitions challenging the June 24 notification on the special intensive revision (SIR) in poll-bound Bihar claiming that the EC was wrongfully deciding the citizenship of voters.

“The law of granting or taking away citizenship has to be passed by Parliament… But inclusion and exclusion of citizens and non-citizens from the electoral rolls is within the EC’s remit,” a Bench of Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi said.

The top court’s comment came after senior counsel AM Singhvi, representing one of the petitioners, contended that the poll panel could not determine the citizenship of people. “The EC was never intended to be the policeman of citizenship,” he submitted.

“Yes, I can be stopped till I apply and get citizenship, but if I am on the roll already…The EC is forgetting that we have already voted in five-six elections…What is happening here is de facto deletion. Non-inclusion is the clever word being used here,” Singhvi said.

The Bench, however, said inclusion in a summary revision electoral roll did not give a carte blanche inclusion into the intensive revision of electoral rolls.

On behalf of the petitioners, senior counsel Kapil Sibal said the authorities in Bihar were not accepting ration cards or the Aadhaar number. “Once I give Aadhaar, I have proved my residency... Then the burden is on the person saying that the document is not correct,” Sibal submitted.

“The EC is correct in saying that Aadhaar can’t be accepted as a conclusive proof of citizenship; it has to be verified. Please see Section 9 of the Aadhaar Act…These are documents which prima facie show a person is a bona fide resident of the area,” the Bench said.

During the hearing, the Bench reiterated that the entire thing could be set aside even if illegality was established as late as September.

On August 1, the EC came out with the “draft electoral rolls” in Bihar, enlisting 7.24 crore voters. The final electoral roll will be out on September 30. Of the 65 lakh voters removed from the draft electoral rolls, 22.34 lakh were dead and 36.28 lakh had permanently shifted or were absent while 7.01 lakh voters were enrolled at more than one places, the EC said.

The EC claimed that roughly 6.5 crore people of the total 7.9 crore voting population didn’t have to file any documents for them or their parents who featured in the 2003 electoral rolls.

As the petitioners expressed the apprehension that a large number of voters would be disenfranchised, the Bench said it “largely appears to be a case of trust deficit, nothing else”.

On behalf of the poll panel, senior counsel Rakesh Dwivedi said, “Such a large exercise shall have some errors here and there. But saying dead is alive is not good…”

Activist Yogendra Yadav, who appeared in person, said, “We are witnessing the largest exercise of disenfranchisement in the history of the world. As many as 65 lakh names deleted. Never in the history of India has it happened. The figure is bound to cross one crore. Please see them. They are declared as dead…. but they are alive…”

Taking exception to Yadav’s submission, Dwivedi said, “What is this drama?”

“It may have been an inadvertent error which can be corrected,” the Bench said. “But your points are well taken,” it told Yadav.