'Can't allow Aadhaar, Voter ID, Ration cards as eligible documents for SIR': Election Commission to Supreme Court

SIR, a drive to verify the voter list, is currently underway in poll-bound Bihar.

In an affidavit filed in the Supreme Court on Monday, the ECI said the three IDs can't be relied upon as Aadhaar is merely an identity proof, a number of fake Ration Cards are available in the country and considering the existing voter card will make the initiative meaningless.

Justifying its stand, the ECI said as quoted by The Times of India, "The conceptual and procedural integrity of a de-novo revision would stand undermined if EPICS, which are merely reflective or prior entries, are used to validate entries in a roll that is required to be constructed anew."

The ECI has, however, said one's citizenship won't be terminated on the basis of one's name not featuring in the electoral rolls.

The poll body said it did not violate any law or infringe the fundamental rights of citizens by conducting the exercise.

"The guidelines issued for SIR are constitutional and in the interest of maintaining the purity of electoral rolls... However, it is reiterated that determination of non-eligibility of anyone under Article 326 [adult suffrage] will not lead to cancellation of citizenship," the ECI said as quoted by The Hindu.

The Supreme Court on July 10 told the ECI that three IDs- Aadhaar, Voter and Ration- must be valid for its controversial voter list verification drive in Bihar.

The top court bench of Justices Sudhanshu Dhulia and Joymalya Bagchi has questioned the timing of its SIR as the Bihar elections are just months away.

Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia said as quoted by NDTV, "Your exercise is not the problem... it is the timing. We have serious doubts if you can manage this exercise. With such a big population (an estimated eight crore people) being subject to this 'intensive review', is it possible to link this to the forthcoming election?"

Justice Dhulia noted that individuals who might be excluded from the list after the revision will have no time to appeal against their exclusion before the state elections.

"There is nothing wrong in the exercise... except that a person will be disenfranchised ahead of the election and s/he won't have the time to defend the exclusion before voting," the judge added.

The top court asked three questions to the poll panel on its authority to conduct such a revision, the validity of the review procedure and the timing of the exercise.

The ECI defended SIR which it claimed must be conducted to maintain the integrity of electoral rolls by including the eligible voters and dropping ineligibles.

The top court has agreed to examine the batch of petitions that have challenged the timing and manner the exercise is being conducted.

Among the petitioners are Rashtriya Janata Dal MP Manoj Jha, Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra, activist Yogendra Yadav.

The next hearing will be held on July 28.