A bench of Justices Surya Kant, Ujjal Bhuyan and N K Singh issued the notice on an application filed by NGO Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR).

The Supreme Court Wednesday sought the Election Commission’s reply over a plea alleging that the poll body had not shared the list of names removed from the draft electoral rolls in Bihar published on August 1 under the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR).

A bench of Justices Surya Kant, Ujjal Bhuyan and N K Singh issued the notice on an application filed by NGO Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR).

Seeking an urgent hearing, Advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for ADR, said, “We have filed an Interlocutory Application (IA)… the draft roll they have published says 65 lakh voters’ names have been omitted… They have not given a list of those names… they have said people are dead, have migrated… They should disclose who the 65 lakhs are, who are dead, who have migrated…”

Bhushan said the names have been included in the list without the recommendations of the Booth Level Officers (BLOs). “BLOs when forwarding the forms have said this person is not recommended by BLO…Whether BLOs have recommended or not recommended… this information will be very important,” Bhushan said.

Justice Kant argued that according to EC’s Standard Operating Procedure (SOP), every representative of political parties would be provided with the list at the block level. Bhushan, however, claimed that this was not done. “They have not conveyed. In case they have given to some political party, reasons are not given,” he said.

Justice Kant said it was only a draft preliminary list, and reasons may be given when the final list is released.

Appearing for the poll panel, the counsel said that they are obligated to make the draft roll public. He said, “We can show that we have shared the list with the political party representatives.”

“If you have supplied, please give a list of political parties to whom you have supplied, so that Mr Bhushan’s client can collect information from those authorised representatives,” said Justice Kant, giving the Commission time till Saturday.

Justice Kant added that the court will ensure that every voter who is likely to be affected gets the requisite information.

The ADR application said that “ECI’s concealment of reason for deletion against each name in the list of 65 lakh electors seems to be an attempt to obviate the general public including the petitioners from ascertaining whether or not electors whose names figure in the said list are indeed dead or permanently migrated. It is to be noted that as per the Election Commission, those whose names do not figure in the draft roll stand do not enjoy the right to routine legal remedies (notice, personal hearing and appeals) available under Section 21A of the Registration of Voters Rules They do not have the option of participating in the process of claims and objections and thus are at the biggest risk of disenfranchisement.”

The top court is scheduled to take up pleas challenging the SIR process on August 12.