RJD, AIMIM Move Supreme Court To Extend Bihar Voter Roll Claims Deadline

The Supreme Court on Friday agreed to hear pleas filed by the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) seeking an extension of the September 1 deadline for filing claims and objections in the special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in poll-bound Bihar.

A bench comprising Justices Surya Kant, Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul M Pancholi said the applications would be taken up on September 1. According to PTI, advocate Prashant Bhushan and senior advocate Shoeb Alam, appearing for the RJD, argued that multiple parties have sought more time for filing claims.

Advocate Nizam Pasha, representing the AIMIM, submitted that the scale of claims had surged in recent days. “The number of claims filed are exponentially rising. The deadline needs to be extended,” Alam told the court. PTI reported that while 80,000 claims had been filed before the Supreme Court’s August 22 order, nearly 95,000 more were submitted afterwards.

When the bench asked why the petitioners had not approached the Election Commission of India (ECI), Bhushan said a request had been made but was not considered. PTI reported that the petitioners pressed for an urgent hearing given the approaching deadline.

On August 22, the apex court directed the ECI to accept claims through both online and physical modes in the ongoing revision. Earlier, on August 14, it had asked the poll panel to publish by August 19 the details of 65 lakh voters excluded from the draft rolls and to accept Aadhaar as valid identity proof.

The SIR, the first such exercise in Bihar since 2003, has become politically contentious. The revision has reduced the state’s total registered voters from 7.9 crore to 7.24 crore, triggering sharp criticism from opposition parties.

(With inputs from PTI)