THE JHARKHAND STORY DESK
New Delhi, Sept 1: The Supreme Court has refused to extend the September 1 deadline set by the Election Commission for filing claims and objections under the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the voter list in Bihar.
However, the court asked political parties to direct their representatives to cooperate with the Election Commission.
During the hearing, the Supreme Court made an important observation, stating that there is a serious lack of trust between the Election Commission and political parties in the state, calling this mistrust unfortunate.
EC assures applications will be accepted later
The Commission informed the court that people can still apply for inclusion of names after September 1, and all such applications will be considered. However, if the dates are extended now, it would set a precedent of repeatedly pushing deadlines, turning the exercise into an endless process.
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Taking note of this submission, a bench of Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi rejected the plea to extend the claims/objections deadline to September 15.
The Supreme Court also noted the Election Commission’s assurance that applications for claims and objections in Bihar will still be accepted even after the September 1 deadline. Therefore, the court did not issue any order to extend the date.
The court further remarked that the questions raised regarding the acceptance of claims and objections are seriously disputed.
Para-legal volunteers to assist voters
To facilitate voters, the court directed the Vice-Chairperson of the Bihar State Legal Services Authority to issue instructions before tomorrow afternoon for the appointment of para-legal volunteers.
According to the court, these volunteers will assist voters and political parties in submitting claims, objections, and corrections online.
The order stated that since the Election Commission has confirmed claims and objections will be entertained even after September 1, they will be considered until the finalization of the electoral rolls, and the process will continue until the last date of nomination.
Political parties were also allowed to submit their response to the note placed on record.
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EC cites progress in document submission
During the proceedings, senior advocate Rakesh Dwivedi, appearing for the Election Commission, argued that if there are discrepancies in documents, notice will be issued within seven days.
He informed the court that out of 7.24 crore applicants, 99.5 percent had already submitted their documents. He added that most political parties are filing applications mainly for deletion of names rather than inclusion.
