Rush Hour: SC seeks EC’s reply on Bihar voter deletions, repo rate unchanged at 5.5% and more

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The Supreme Court directed the Election Commission to submit a detailed response explaining the reasons for the deletion of 65 lakh names from Bihar’s draft electoral roll. The bench asked the poll panel to file the details by Saturday, before the matter is heard on Tuesday.

The draft roll was published on August 1 as part of a special intensive revision ahead of the Assembly elections. The list removed 65 lakh voters.

The direction from the court came on a petition mentioned for urgent hearing by non-profit organisation Association for Democratic Reforms. The petition stated that while the Election Commission had shared a list of the 65 lakh deleted names with the booth-level agents of a “few” political parties, it had not specified the reason in each case.

Without the reasons for each deletion, the list did not serve any purpose as it made it impossible to cross-check the details on the ground, the petitioner added. Read more.

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