The petitioners highlighted the fact that the ECI was not accepting Aadhaar, ration or EPIC cards which most people possess.

During a hearing that lasted the entire second half of the day, petitioners in the pleas challenging the Election Commission of India’s (ECI’s) Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of Bihar’s electoral rolls told the Supreme Court on Tuesday (August 12) that the EC cannot put the burden of proving citizenship on voters.

The matter was heard by a bench of Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi, reported LiveLaw.

Appearing for Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) MP Manoj Kumar Jha, senior advocate Kapil Sibal submitted that the exclusion of around 65 lakh voters from the draft electoral roll published on August 1, without any objection to their inclusion, is illegal. He added that the documents such as birth certificates, matriculation certificates, passport etc. are possessed by a very limited segment.

“There must be something to prove you are a citizen of India… everybody possesses some certificate – you need it even to buy a SIM. OBC, SC, ST certificates… It is a very sweeping argument that in Bihar, nobody possesses these documents. Aadhaar and ration card they have?” said Justice Kant.

Sibal added that the ECI was not accepting Aadhaar, ration or EPIC cards which most people possess.

Representing the Association for Democratic Reforms, advocate Prashant Bhushan that the ECI has not published the list of names of the 65 lakh people who have been deleted from the draft roll; nor have they specified who are dead or migrated persons.

“Today, what they have done is something mischievous. Till the 4th of August, the draft of the roll was searchable. After the 4th of August, the document is not searchable. They say, go and ask the Booth Level Agent of the political party. Why should I, as a citizen, not know from their document and should ask an agent of the political party?” Bhushan told the apex court.

Advocate Vrinda Grover said that the ECI does not have the power to specify that only certain documents can be accepted.

‘Where does the power of the ECI come? This is an ultra vires exercise’

“Where does the power of the ECI come? This is an ultra vires exercise. Where is the Parliamentary process to specify the 11 documents?” asked Grover, reported LiveLaw.

Senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi questioned the ECI’s refusal to accept Aadhaar and EPIC.

“You cannot start by presumptively doubting the citizenship of 5 crore of voters (who are in the post-2003 roll). The presumption is that they are citizens unless established otherwise through a procedure in accordance with the law….If you declare 5 crore people to be not valid and give them 2.5 months…” said Singhvi.

Activist Yogendra Yadav, who appeared in person, said that the exclusion of 65 lakh voters is not the failure of the implementation of the SIR but the very design of the process.

“With one stroke, the percentage of adults eligible to vote in Bihar has come down to 88% already. There would be further deletions now,” said Yadav.

“This is the first revision exercise in the whole country where there is zero addition and there are only omissions. The EC officers went from house to house. They did not find one single person who should have been included? This was an exercise of intensive deletion. This is not revision,” said Yadav.

He also produced two persons before the court and said that they were declared dead and deleted form the draft Bihar roll.

At this point, the counsel appearing for the ECI objected, asking, “What drama is going on in the court?” reported LiveLaw.

The hearing will continue on Wednesday (August 13).