Poonam Nath

SIR exercise in Bihar ‘voter-friendly’, SC call amid protests

Digital Desk: Ahead of state elections, the Supreme Court is considering petitions contesting Bihar's Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls.

The court noted verbally during the hearing that the procedure seems "voter friendly." The electorate is more inclusive when the number of acceptable identity documents is increased from seven to eleven, according to Justice Bagchi.

The court concurred with the Election Commission that Aadhaar is not definitive evidence of citizenship on the day before. Petitioners claimed that approximately 65 lakh names had been removed from the draft voter list, arguing that the SIR process is arbitrary and exclusionary.

In order to make sure that no citizen is unjustly denied the right to vote, the Supreme Court declared that it is looking at the process's technical and constitutional validity rather than political arguments.