New Delhi: The Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) approached the Supreme Court Friday, requesting an extension of the deadline to file claims for voters whose names are missing from the draft Bihar electoral rolls published by the Election Commission of India (EC).
Many legitimate voters in Bihar have been wrongly removed from the electoral rolls in the ongoing special intensive revision (SIR) drive by the EC in the state, the RJD has argued, adding that the current timeline is insufficient for redress.
The RJD’s application comes days after the top court noted in its last 22 August hearing in the SIR case that none of the political parties are present to share their views on the drive, which different civil society groups have challenged before the SC.
In Bihar, the booth-level officers or BLOs with the EC are not acknowledging claims filed by the party’s booth level agents (BLAs), on behalf of voters whose names were deleted from the draft electoral list, published 17 August on the EC’s official website, stated the RJD’s application. The EC made 65 lakh deletions public after a 14 August Supreme Court order.
According to the RJD’s submission, the claims lodged by BLAs have not been reflected in the EC’s daily status report against the party. In its application, the RJD has listed 36 instances where claims of genuine voters, whose names the party claims were wrongly deleted, have been acknowledged but are not reflected in the EC’s status report.
The RJD has claimed this has been done by the poll body to create a wrong narrative that the BLAs of political parties are not cooperating or helping in the filing of claims.
The RJD had also publicised the EC’s alleged inaction on its Twitter handle. Yet, the poll panel had not amended its status report till Thursday, when it updated three claims against the RJD. The number of claims filed by its BLAs is significantly higher, the RJD has said.
Besides seeking a two-week extension, the RJD has asked the apex court to order the EC to publicise the Supreme Court’s 22 August directive, permitting deleted voters to file claims, using only their Aadhaar cards. This specific direction has been sought because, according to the RJD, the EC has, in many instances, refused to accept claims with only an Aadhaar card, disregarding the court’s order. Instead, the officers have insisted on one of the 11 acceptable documents mentioned in the 24 June EC order.
Highlighting the magnitude of the exercise, the RJD has claimed in the apex court that the number of claims has significantly multiplied soon after its 22 August order and crossed more than 1.9 lakh. This is double the number of claims logged, a day before the order was passed. It was 84,305, then.
The RJD has also prayed for a court direction to the EC to accept the Aadhaar cards of voters who have submitted their enumeration forms, as well as to not delete any entry from the draft rolls on the grounds of documents insufficiency.
This would help more eligible voters restore their names on the electoral rolls.
The RJD has emphasised that despite the court’s order, the EC has prepared the draft voter roll without considering the Aadhaar card as a standalone document.
The problems of Bihar residents have only compounded, with the flood situation in the state further worsening. It has made the task of verifying the deleted voters difficult for the BLAs, who are already too few in number to cover more than 90,000 booths that the EC has designated. The RJD has been able to cover only 50 percent of the booths through its BLAs, according to the party’s application.
“The period of filing claims expires on 01-09-2025. Unless extended, genuine electors whose names have been erroneously deleted by the EC will not be able to submit their claims and consequently will be barred from exercising their right to vote in the coming elections,” the RJD application submitted.
(Edited by Madhurita Goswami)
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