Patna: People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) has welcomed the interim order passed by the Supreme Court in connection with the special intensive revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls.
Statement Issued By PUCL
In a statement issued by PUCL, it stated the order will bring transparency to the SIR procedure and provide a chance to eligible voters, whose names are missing from the draft roll, to use their Aadhar Card to seek inclusion of their names. The statement has been issued jointly by PUCL national president Kavita Srivastava, national general secretary V Suresh, Bihar PUCL president Anand Kishore and Bihar PUCL general secretary Sarfaraz-Uddin.
The SC has passed the interim order while hearing a petition by ADR and others.
“The order vindicates our fundamental objections and apprehensions raised right from the day of the sudden imposition of SIR,” the statement added.
As the PUCL Bihar’s field surveys show, a significant number of voters whose names appear in the draft list on the ECI website have been asked to contact their BLOs and submit the required documents. The most worrying matter is that such voters have not been contacted by any election official so far, and they have no idea about their application status. Such voters are at high risk of losing their right to vote, the PUCL claimed in the statement.
“PUCL is also concerned about the paucity of information about new inclusions (or lack thereof) in the draft electoral roll. Henceforth, Aadhar as mandated by the Supreme Court must be accepted as a qualifying document for new additions to the electoral roll, or the exercise rather than being a revision of the election roll will be seen as an exercise in exclusion from the election roll,” it added.
Regarding the category of “permanently shifted” or “not found” under which 36 lakh voters have been excluded from the draft list, there is a high probability that this includes a significant number of 'circular’ migrants, either migrating singly or with their entire family. Hence, the ECI must allow any family member to fill out the SIR form and submit the required document on behalf of the other adult members.
PUCL firmly believes that these measures will strengthen India’s democracy and people’s faith in the impartial functioning of all state institutions, the statement stated.
The PUCL is hopeful that the process mandating transparency set in place by the Supreme Court will be taken forward in the spirit of the Constitution and no voter will suffer unfair and arbitrary disenfranchisement, the statement added.
While V Suresh is the petitioner on behalf of the PUCL, Sarfaraz-Uddin as voter and direct stakeholder as a voter living in Bihar.
