Page 8 - The Indian EYE 082225

The Indian Eye
EYE ON INDIA AUGUST 22, 2025 8

Supreme Court Forces Transparency

as Rahul Gandhi, Ruling Party Clash

Over Bihar Voters List

OUR BUREAU
New Delhi

he battle over Bihar’s voters list has fast
become one of the most politically sensi-
Ttive issues ahead of upcoming elections. At
its core is the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of
electoral rolls—a routine but often overlooked
process—now under intense national scrutiny after
the exclusion or deletion of around 65 lakh names
from Bihar’s draft list. The Election Commission of
India (ECI) says these removals were due to death,
migration, or duplication, but opposition leaders
argue the exercise risks disenfranchising large sec-
tions of the electorate, especially among the poor
and marginalised.
On Thursday, the Supreme Court took a deci-
sive step, ordering the ECI to publish a booth-wise
list of all excluded voters on the websites of dis-
trict electoral officers, the Chief Electoral Officer
of Bihar, and physically at Panchayat Bhawans and
block development offices. The Court’s interim
order also mandated that the list be searchable by
EPIC number and widely publicised through local Lok Sabha LoP and Congress MP Rahul Gandhi meets with 7 ‘Dead People’ cut from the Bihar voter list in New Delhi on
newspapers, Doordarshan, radio, and official so-
cial media channels. Wednesday (AICC/ANI Photo)
A bench comprising Justices Surya Kant and
Joymalya Bagchi emphasised accessibility, direct- The clip showed several individuals claiming their “direct attack” on India’s voters and election staff.
ing that people should be able to manually verify names were removed from the rolls after being It reiterated that “One Person One Vote” has been
the information. The Court also allowed aggrieved wrongly categorised as deceased during the SIR a foundational principle since India’s first elections
voters to file objections by submitting Aadhaar process. Gandhi argues this is part of a broader in 1951-52, and challenged anyone making accusa-
copies and instructed the ECI to collect compli- pattern of “vote theft” designed to manipulate the tions to submit sworn affidavits with proof of dou-
ance reports from booth- and district-level officers, electoral outcome. ble voting. Without such evidence, the Commis-
to be submitted by August 20. The matter will be Building on the momentum, the Congress sion argued, claims of widespread fraud amount to
heard again on August 22. leader has announced a “Voter Adhikar Yatra” undermining public trust in the electoral process.
The petitions that triggered this intervention starting August 17 from Bihar, positioning it as a What makes this confrontation particularly
were filed by a coalition of opposition leaders nationwide movement to “protect democracy, the charged is its timing. With elections looming and
and civil society organisations, including RJD MP constitution, and the principle of one man, one Bihar a key political battleground, control of the
Manoj Jha, the Association for Democratic Re- vote.” His message calls on youth, workers, and narrative on electoral integrity could influence not
forms, PUCL, activist Yogendra Yadav, Trinamool farmers to unite against “vote thieves” and de- just voter sentiment in the state but also national
MP Mahua Moitra, and former Bihar MLA Mu- mand a clean voter list across India. political alignments. By ordering the public release
jahid Alam. They are seeking to quash the ECI’s The ruling BJP has pushed back hard. Union of exclusion lists, the Court has effectively handed
June 24 directive that large numbers of Bihar vot- Minister Rajiv Ranjan Singh accused the Congress opposition parties a tool to mobilise affected vot-
ers must submit proof of citizenship to remain on of wanting “non-Indians” to vote, claiming that or- ers—while also giving the ECI a chance to demon-
the rolls—while excluding widely held documents dinary Biharis support the SIR process. Parliamen- strate procedural fairness.
like Aadhaar and ration cards. Petitioners warn tary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju went further, ac- As August 22 approaches, all sides are pre-
this could disproportionately affect rural and poor cusing Gandhi of ignorance of the Constitution and paring for the next phase of the fight. For Gand-
voters who may lack other forms of documentation. staging political “drama.” Referring to Gandhi’s tea hi and his allies, it is an opportunity to energise
Rahul Gandhi has made the issue a centrepiece meeting with excluded voters, Rijiju said the SIR grassroots activism around a relatable grievance:
of his political campaign. On Wednesday, he post- process—removing deceased voters and correcting the right to vote. For the BJP and the ECI, it is
ed a video of himself having tea with voters from records—has been in place since Independence a test of their ability to defend the SIR process
Bihar who have been officially marked as “dead” and is essential to maintaining electoral accuracy. as impartial, legal, and necessary. And for the
despite being alive. In the video, he quipped that The ECI itself, rarely so combative in public, Supreme Court, it is an ongoing exercise in bal-
he had “never before had tea with dead people” issued a strongly worded statement calling Gand- ancing electoral integrity with the constitutional
and thanked the ECI for the “unique experience.” hi’s “vote theft” allegation a “false narrative” and a promise of universal suffrage.

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