What the ‘neutral clean-up’ of Bihar’s poll rolls really is, Pg8

Context: 

• The Election Commission of India (ECI) has launched a Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar ahead of the 2025 Assembly elections. The process has drawn criticism for allegedly disenfranchising lakhs of voters, particularly from marginalised communities.

Key Highlights:

• Over 4.74 crore voters (~60% of Bihar’s electorate) must submit documentary proof of citizenship.
• Accepted documents include birth certificates, school-leaving certificates, land deeds, etc.—many difficult to produce, especially for rural and poor populations.
• Government-issued IDs like voter ID, Aadhaar, MGNREGA cards are not accepted as sufficient proof.
• The exercise is taking place under tight deadlines and during the monsoon season, complicating access for migrant workers and flood-affected populations.
• The ECI claims the revision aims to remove duplicate and ineligible entries, but its scale and timing have raised concerns of voter suppression.

Critical Issues Raised:

• Violation of past precedents: Earlier, self-declaration was accepted; the Supreme Court has upheld that prior inclusion in rolls presumes verification.
• Encroachment of mandate: Citizenship verification is traditionally a judicial domain, not ECI’s. 
• Potential disenfranchisement: The poor and migrant workers—groups historically underdocumented—are disproportionately affected.
• ECI’s own documents (voter ID) being rejected undermines institutional credibility.
• Process resembles a de facto NRC with no legal or judicial backing.
• The process may lead to electoral distortion in closely contested constituencies—estimated two crore voters could be excluded.
• Could be replicated in other States like Assam, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Puducherry.
• Represents a larger political project to potentially weaken pluralism and suppress minority participation in electoral politics.

Way Forward:

• The ECI must defer or modify the exercise to ensure no eligible voter is disenfranchised.
• Transparent, inclusive, and non-discriminatory voter roll revisions with judicial oversight are essential.
• Courts must reaffirm that electoral access is a democratic right, and electoral reforms must enhance participation, not restrict it.
• Legislative safeguards may be needed to prevent politicised voter roll revisions in the future.

Constitutional & Legal Concepts Involved:

• Right to vote (Statutory, under RPA, 1950 & 1951, but central to free and fair elections under basic structure doctrine).
• Article 14 & 15: Equality before law and non-discrimination, which could be violated by disproportionate burdens on specific groups.
• Article 21: Right to dignity, potentially infringed by arbitrary documentation requirements.
• Supreme Court precedents affirm that deletion from electoral rolls must follow due process and cannot be based on retrospective citizenship verification.