The Supreme Court on Friday said voters excluded from Bihar’s draft electoral rolls can apply online for inclusion by submitting their Aadhaar cards or any of the 11 documents recognised by the Election Commission, Live Law reported.

A bench of Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi further directed the 12 recognised political parties in Bihar to instruct their booth-level agents to assist voters in their booths with the submission of forms, Bar and Bench reported.

The court is hearing a clutch of petitions challenging the voter roll revision in Bihar ahead of the Assembly elections, expected in October or November.

The draft roll published on August 1 showed that 65.6 lakh names were removed from the list. Of these, 22 lakh were due to deaths, 36 lakh were of people who had permanently shifted or were untraceable and seven lakh were duplicate entries, the Election Commission had said at the time.

On Friday, the bench also expressed surprise that Bihar had over 1.6 lakh booth-level agents from political parties, but only two objections have been filed as per the Election Commission, Bar and Bench reported.

Some political parties, however, told the court that their booth-level agents were not being allowed to file objections, Live Law reported.

The court also directed booth-level officers to issue acknowledgement receipts for objections submitted by booth-level agents wherever physical forms are filed.

Meanwhile, the Election Commission informed the court that it has filed a compliance affidavit stating that the lists of voters excluded from the draft rolls, along with reasons for their exclusion, have been published on its website and at polling booths, as directed by the court.

It added that the lists have also been shared with the booth-level agents of political parties.

On August 14, the court had directed the Election Commission to publish a district-wise list of the names deleted from the draft roll. It also directed the poll panel to specify in public notices that persons excluded from the draft list released on August 1 can furnish their Aadhaar cards at the time of submitting their claims for inclusion in the final list.

The document was not among the poll body’s 11 accepted proofs of identity. Several petitioners had objected to the exclusion of Aadhaar, the most widely held ID, from the list of permissible documents, calling it “absurd”.

On Tuesday, the Election Commission said that those aggrieved at being left out of the draft voters’ list in Bihar after the revision exercise can file claims using their Aadhaar cards.

Bihar voter roll revision

The revision of the electoral rolls in Bihar was announced by the Election Commission on June 24.

As part of the exercise, persons whose names were not on the 2003 voter list needed to submit proof of eligibility to vote.

The draft voter list, published on August 1, comprises electors who submitted their enumeration forms to the poll panel between June 24 and July 26.

They will now have to produce proof of citizenship to make it to the final list that will be published on September 30.

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Higher exclusion of Hindus than Muslims in Bihar draft roll, shows Scroll analysis

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