Include Aadhaar, Voter ID: Supreme Court To Poll Body On Bihar Rolls Revision
Bihar voters should be allowed to submit Adhaar and voter Identity card as documents for the Special Intensive Revision, the Supreme Court told the Election Commission today during a hearing on the issue. The court pointed out that the risk of forgery - which was what the Commission had cited to rule out the three crucial documents including ration card - could happen for any of the 11 it had allowed.
"There's presumption of correctness with official documents, you proceed with these 2 documents. You will include these two documents (Aadhaar and EPIC)...Wherever you find forgery, that's on case-to-case basis. Any document on the earth can be forged," Justice Surya Kant remarked.
instead of "en masse exclusion", there should be, "en masse inclusion", Justice Kant told the Commission.
The court, though, refused to stop the publication of the draft rolls on August 1, making it clear that the final outcome would be subject to the decision on the appeals pending in the court.
The two-judge bench of Justice Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi did not hold a detailed hearing today as Justice Kant had to attend an administrative meeting with the Chief Justice of India in the afternoon.
Assuring the petitioners that the matters will be heard at the earliest, Justice Kant asked the lawyers to submit the tentative times required for argument by tomorrow.
Senior Advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan, representing the Association for Democratic Reforms - one of the petitioners in the case - pressed for a stay, contending that it would inconvenience nearly 4.5 crore people as those excluded will have to wade through massive paperwork to seek inclusion.
Senior Advocate Rakesh Dwivedi, appearing for the Election Commission, requested the court not to interfere as it was only a draft list. Justice Surya Kant said the court can ultimately strike down the entire process if any illegality was found.
The petitioners had told the top court that the Commission was violating a previous order of the Supreme Court which had suggested that it consider Aadhaar cards, Electoral Photo Identity Cards and Ration Cards.
The Commission, however, said that it has already flagged its reservations about these documents, citing several fake ration cards. The bench, however, verbally told the Commission again to consider at least the statutory documents of Aadhaar and EPIC.
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