NEW DELHI: Election Commission Thursday pointed out falsehoods in affidavits presented before Supreme Court by NGO, Association for Democratic Reforms ( ADR ), which alleged that names of people were deleted from Bihar's final voter list without intimation.
A bench of Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi told ADR counsel Prashant Bhushan, who handed over the affidavits, that he must take responsibility for such false affidavits. When Bhushan said veracity of the affidavits can be inquired into, the bench said, "After experiencing such false affidavits, how can we trust these? We are not in the business of conducting inquiry."
"We would have been with you had you given details of persons whose names have been deleted without intimation from the final voter list and whether their appeals have been disposed of without proper hearing. We could have intervened. Why not a single instance cited by you? It seems there is too much passion and little reason," the bench told ADR's counsel.
However, the bench ensured that no name is deleted from the voters' list without following procedure and directed DLSA to deploy para-legal volunteers to inquire from booth level officers about the persons whose names figure in the deletion list of 3.75 lakh, which is in addition to 65 lakh, and facilitate them in filing an appeal against deletion.
On EC's charge that the affidavit contained false information amounting to perjury, Bhushan said, "It was given to me by a responsible person. If EC is having a problem with it, the court can direct legal services authorities to inquire into it."
Justice Bagchi said, "EC has demonstrated that the facts are incorrect. If the person who has filed the affidavit is not found at the address given, how would legal services authority inquire into it. Inquiry does not rectify falsehood." EC, through senior advocate Rakesh Dwivedi, said once the allegation is found to be false, the NGO would now change the narrative. "Their aim is to create a narrative through analysis based on wrong data," he said.
Social activist Yogendra Yadav took over from Bhushan and alleged that the SIR of Bihar's electoral rolls has been weaponised to exclude a large chunk of voters, especially women. He said because of SIR, around 80 lakh voters have been deleted from the list. Based on data and graphics presented by him, the bench said till 2023, the number of voters in Bihar exceeded the total adult population. When Yadav said it was a problem which was cured subsequently, the bench said, "If it (total number of voters ) was 105% of total adult population, it is a crisis not a problem."
Yadav said there are still several lakh voters with the same name and same address. EC should employ software to delete duplicate names from the final voter list, he said, which invited sarcastic comments from Dwivedi, who said, "Till now they were seeking inclusion. Now they want more exclusion." SC posted further hearing on Thursday.
A bench of Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi told ADR counsel Prashant Bhushan, who handed over the affidavits, that he must take responsibility for such false affidavits. When Bhushan said veracity of the affidavits can be inquired into, the bench said, "After experiencing such false affidavits, how can we trust these? We are not in the business of conducting inquiry."
"We would have been with you had you given details of persons whose names have been deleted without intimation from the final voter list and whether their appeals have been disposed of without proper hearing. We could have intervened. Why not a single instance cited by you? It seems there is too much passion and little reason," the bench told ADR's counsel.
However, the bench ensured that no name is deleted from the voters' list without following procedure and directed DLSA to deploy para-legal volunteers to inquire from booth level officers about the persons whose names figure in the deletion list of 3.75 lakh, which is in addition to 65 lakh, and facilitate them in filing an appeal against deletion.
On EC's charge that the affidavit contained false information amounting to perjury, Bhushan said, "It was given to me by a responsible person. If EC is having a problem with it, the court can direct legal services authorities to inquire into it."
Justice Bagchi said, "EC has demonstrated that the facts are incorrect. If the person who has filed the affidavit is not found at the address given, how would legal services authority inquire into it. Inquiry does not rectify falsehood." EC, through senior advocate Rakesh Dwivedi, said once the allegation is found to be false, the NGO would now change the narrative. "Their aim is to create a narrative through analysis based on wrong data," he said.
Social activist Yogendra Yadav took over from Bhushan and alleged that the SIR of Bihar's electoral rolls has been weaponised to exclude a large chunk of voters, especially women. He said because of SIR, around 80 lakh voters have been deleted from the list. Based on data and graphics presented by him, the bench said till 2023, the number of voters in Bihar exceeded the total adult population. When Yadav said it was a problem which was cured subsequently, the bench said, "If it (total number of voters ) was 105% of total adult population, it is a crisis not a problem."
Yadav said there are still several lakh voters with the same name and same address. EC should employ software to delete duplicate names from the final voter list, he said, which invited sarcastic comments from Dwivedi, who said, "Till now they were seeking inclusion. Now they want more exclusion." SC posted further hearing on Thursday.
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