Bihar SIR: Supreme Court agrees to hear deadline extension pleas
What's the story
The Supreme Court has agreed to hear petitions seeking an extension of the September 1 deadline for filing claims and objections in the Bihar Special Intensive Revision of Electoral Rolls. The decision was made by a bench comprising Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi after Advocate Prashant Bhushan made an urgent mention. The Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and other parties have filed applications for this extension.
Voter inclusion
Supreme Court's directions to ECI
At the last hearing on August 22, the Supreme Court had directed the Election Commission of India (ECI) to allow excluded voters to submit claims for inclusion online using their Aadhaar cards. The court had also assured that a request for an extension could be considered later. Before that, the ECI was earlier directed to publish names of around 65 lakh excluded persons, detailing reasons for their exclusion.
Allegations
Opposition alleges conspiracy in voter list exercise
Opposition parties have alleged a conspiracy behind the voter list exercise, accusing the central government of manipulating voter data. They claim that thousands of objections were filed after the Supreme Court's directions. In its plea, the RJD urged the court to direct the commission to extend the claims period by two weeks, until September 15, citing the high increase in petitions from excluded voters.
Deadline extension
RJD's plea
"As per the ECI's...daily SIR update, the number of claims have increased and more than one lakh claims filed in the last one week. 33,349 claims have been filed in the last two days. The period of filing claims expires on 01-09-2025." "Unless extended, genuine electors whose names have been erroneously deleted by the EC will not be able to submit their claims and consequently will be barred from exercising their right to vote," the plea stated.