SC declines to extend deadline for Bihar draft rolls

The Supreme Court on Monday declined to extend the September 1 deadline fixed by the Election Commission of India (ECI) for filing claims and objections to the draft electoral rolls in Bihar, but recorded the poll panel’s assurance that such claims received even after the cut-off date and before the last date of nominations would be considered. A bench of Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi was hearing a batch of applications filed by the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and other political parties seeking an extension of the time granted by the ECI under the first phase of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR). “The process of consideration of claims will continue till the last date of nominations. Let the claims/objections be continued to be filed,” the bench said in its order.
It also directed the Bihar State Legal Services Authority to depute para legal volunteers (PLVs) to assist electors and political parties in filing online claims, objections or corrections. The PLVs were asked to submit a confidential report to the respective District Legal Services Authority, which would then be collated at the state level for submission to the top court.
According to the poll panel, the draft rolls, published on August 1, are undergoing scrutiny through claims and objections filed by political parties, electors and Booth Level Agents (BLAs). It informed the court that it has so far received 33,326 claims for inclusion and 2,07,565 objections for exclusion, of which 38,342 have already been disposed of.The Commission also said over 15.32 lakh new electors aged 18 and above have submitted Form-6 applications, with 81,073 disposed of within seven days. The main batch of petitions challenging the Special Intensive Revision, launched on June 24, is scheduled to be heard on September 8.