Supreme Court to hear petitions against Bihar voter list revision on July 10

The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to hear petitions challenging the Election Commission’s decision to carry out a special intensive revision of electoral rolls in Bihar on July 10, Live Law reported.

The special intensive revision of the electoral rolls in Bihar was announced by the Election Commission on June 24, ahead of the Assembly elections expected to be held in the state in October or November.

As part of the exercise, persons whose names were not on the 2003 voter list will need to submit proof of eligibility to vote. This means that 2.9 crore out of the state’s 7.8 crore voters – or about 37% of the electors – will have to submit documentary evidence.

Petitions against the exercise have been filed by Rashtriya Janata Dal MP Manoj Kumar Jhal, Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra, non-governmental organisations Association for Democratic Reforms and People’s Union for Civil Liberties and activist Yogendra Yadav.

The lawyers representing the petitioners on Monday mentioned the matter before a two-judge bench of Justices Sudhanshu Dhulia and Joymalya Bagchi, requesting an urgent hearing. They argued that if voters do not submit forms along with specific documents by the deadline, their names could be removed from the voter list, even if they have been voting for over two decades.

Advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, representing one of the petitioners,...

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