Bihar voter list revision: Claims, objections can be filed beyond September 1 deadline, EC tells SC

The Election Commission informed the Supreme Court on Monday that it will continue to accept additional documents, claims and objections to the draft electoral rolls in Bihar even after the official September 1 deadline, Live Law reported.

The poll body informed the court that such submissions will be accepted before the electoral roll is finalised as part of the ongoing special intensive revision of electoral rolls in poll-bound Bihar.

Based on this submission, the bench of Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi refrained from passing any order to extend the September 1 deadline, Live Law reported.

The court noted that “the process will continue until the last date of nominations and all inclusions/exclusions are integrated in the final roll,” and accordingly urged all political parties and petitioners to keep submitting affidavits in response to the Election Commission’s submission.

The court was hearing applications filed by the Rashtriya Janata Dal and All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen, seeking to extend the deadline by two weeks.

The court also observed that the confusion surrounding the voter roll revision exercise was largely due to a lack of trust. It directed the Bihar State Legal Services Authority to deploy para-legal volunteers across the state to assist voters and political parties in filing claims and objections, PTI reported.

During the hearing, advocate Rakesh Dwivedi, appearing on...

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