Bihar SIR: SC declines blanket order, asks those excluded from voters list to file appeals, next hearing on Oct 16

The Supreme Court on 9 October directed that the Bihar State Legal Services Authority should provide thorough assistance in filing appeals to those excluded from the voters' list prepared by the Election Commission of India (ECI) as part of the recently concluded Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in Bihar, legal news website Bar and Bench reported.

The next hearing in this matter is scheduled for 16 October.

A bench of Justices Surya Kant and Joymlaya Bagchi declined to pass any blanket order on the exclusions and inclusions in the voters' list. Instead, it asked the affected individuals to file appeals to the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of the state.

“Regardless of outcome of these proceedings, one issue that has arisen is right to appeal for the 3.7 lakh people who have been excluded. Though ECI has taken a stand that each such person why they have been excluded, petitioners oppose this. Since time to file appeal is running, we request the executive chairman of Bihar Legal Services Authority to send a communication to all the secretaries in local authorities to provide free legal aid counsel, para legal volunteers to help the excluded ones to file their appeals,” the court said.

Let each village have a list of booth-level officers and the numbers of the para-legal volunteers who will assist in filing these appeals, the court said.

"The officers shall also provide facilities to draft the appeals and counsels from the panel to file such appeals. The state legal service authority shall collate all info and submit a status report to the court within one week, and the question of deciding appeals within the timeline shall be considered on the next date of hearing," the bench said as reported by Bar and Bench.

The court was hearing pleas challenging the SIR of Bihar's electoral rolls.

The bench stated that it would not be possible for the court to examine each and every such case, and hence, an appeal to the relevant authority is the way forward.

On 7 October, the bench orally stated that there was some confusion as to whether voters added to the final electoral list were from the list of previously deleted voters or entirely new names.

The court had asked the poll panel to furnish details of excluded voters during the SIR by today, 9 October. The top court's directives came a day after the Election Commission announced the schedule for the Bihar assembly elections. Voting will be held in Bihar in two phases – 6 and 11 November.

The SIR was completed on 30 September. As against 7.89 crore voters on 24 June in Bihar, 7.42 crore electors were retained in the voter list.

(With agency and Bar and Bench inputs)