If illegality found, entire exercise will be struck down: SC on Bihar SIR; bench says verdict will apply pan-India, not just Bihar

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday said that if any illegality is found in the methodology adopted by the Election Commission of India (ECI) during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar , the entire exercise will be struck down.

The bench of Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi also fixed October 7 for the final hearing on pleas challenging the validity of the Bihar SIR.

Presuming the ECI was acting as per law, top court said that the exercise would be invalidated if constitutional safeguards were compromised. The bench clarified, "Our judgement in Bihar SIR will be applicable for Pan-India SIR," adding that it "can't give piecemeal opinion on Bihar SIR, final verdict will be applicable for pan-India SIR."

The court permitted petitioners to argue on both Bihar-specific issues and the nationwide SIR process during the October 7 hearing.

At the same time, it issued notice on a plea seeking recall of its September 8 order that directed the poll panel to include Aadhaar as the 12th prescribed document for the Bihar SIR.

On September 8, the apex court had clarified that Aadhaar is not proof of citizenship, but the ECI can verify its genuineness when submitted for voter roll inclusion.

During Monday’s proceedings, senior advocate Gopal S submitted, "If prima facie perversion of constitutional scheme is found, we would then be entitled to press that process should not continue...let ECI be also heard on law...as of now, 7.89 crore voters, as per them, were there initially...4.96 cr automatically included in draft roll...there's an estimate of 6.84 crores of those with Aadhaar."

Justice J Kant remarked, "Once this suspense period is over, I think all this information..." to which Gopal S responded, "I am just flagging..." Justice Kant added, "It can be assumed that those who are being excluded are being excluded for absence of documents only." Gopal S replied, "I am just looking for clarity about what is to be done."