By Admin 
The Supreme Court has refused to stop the ongoing voter list investigation in Bihar. The court has said that it will not stop a constitutional institution like Election Commission to work. However, the court suggested that the Commission should also consider accepting documents like Aadhaar, voter ID card and ration card for confirmation of voters. The next hearing of the case in the Supreme Court will be on 28 July.
Two and a half hour hearing
The bench of Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia and Joymalya Bagchi heard the cross -examination of both sides for about two and a half hours. On behalf of the petitioner side, senior lawyers like Gopal Shankaranarayan, Kapil Sibal, Abhishek Manu Singhvi and Shadan Arggeshan argued. On the other hand, senior lawyers Rakesh Dwivedi, Maninder Singh and KK Venugopal took the front on behalf of the Election Commission.
‘Commission cannot investigate citizenship’
A total of 11 petitions in the Supreme Court were engaged for hearing. Among them, apart from NGO Association for Democratic Reforms and People’s Union Civil Liberty, there were also a petition of leaders of opposition parties like RJD, Congress, TMC. The petitioner side argued that the Election Commission cannot investigate citizenship. Only 11 documents are being accepted to confirm the voter. Documents like Aadhaar card, voter eye card have not been kept in this list. The entire process is being disposed of rapidly. In such a situation, the names of millions of people are expected to come out of the voter list.
‘Only doing your constitutional work’
The Election Commission said that it cannot respond to anyone’s perceptions. He is fulfilling his constitutional obligation. The apprehension is wrong that its purpose is to exclude a large number of voters from the list. Article 324 of the Constitution gives the Election Commission the responsibility of creating a voter list and improving it. Section 21 (3) of the Representation of People’s Act, 1950 gives him the power to run a special intensive campaign to improve the voter list. The Law also gives the right to the Commission to make rules related to this process.
Such a campaign will run in the whole country
The Election Commission also said that in addition to sending messages through mobile phones, it is going door-to-door to contact voters. Those who are in the draft voter list of January 2025 have to sign a form. The participation of other organizations including political parties has also been kept in the entire process. If someone’s name is not able to come in the new draft list to be released on August 1, then he will still be given full opportunity. People will be able to get their names added to the list later. The Commission also said that after Bihar, such a campaign will also run in other states.
Court order
At the end of the hearing, the court asked the Election Commission to file replies at 3 points. These are the 3 points:- Voter list revision power, the process adopted for it and the time chosen for it. In fact, during the hearing, the petitioner side questioned the introduction of ‘Special Intensive Revision’ before the assembly elections. He had demanded that the new list should not be implemented in the assembly elections. However, the court refused to give such an order.