Election Commission extends Bihar SIR claims window, RJD seeks deadline extension

The Election Commission of India clarified that claims, objections, and corrections in Bihar’s SIR electoral roll can be filed beyond September 1. The Supreme Court directed paralegal volunteers to assist voters, with reports considered on September 8

New Delhi: The Election Commission of India on Monday said claims, objections, and corrections in the draft electoral roll prepared in the Bihar special intensive revision (SIR) exercise can be filed beyond September 1, but the same would be considered once the electoral roll is finalised.

A bench of Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi noted the submission of the Election Commission (EC), which said claims and objections could be filed till the last date of nomination forms in each assembly constituency.

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The top court, while terming the confusion over the Bihar SIR as “largely a trust issue”, directed the state legal service authority to deploy paralegal volunteers to assist individual voters and political parties in filing claims and objections to the draft roll, which was published on August 1.

Senior advocate Rakesh Dwivedi, appearing for EC, said, “Any extension of the deadline will lead to disruption of the entire exercise and finalisation of the final electoral roll.” The poll panel further stated that 99.5 per cent of the 2.74 crore electors in the draft electoral roll had filed the eligibility documents, countering the claims of the RJD, which had alleged that it had filed 36 claims, and stated that the party had actually filed only 10 such claims.

Dwivedi further said the 36 claims that the RJD party mentioned in its petition had also been “duly accepted”. The poll panel said it will issue notices within seven days to those electors whose documents were incomplete, describing the process as a “continuing exercise”.

Most claims and objections filed by political parties, the EC said, were for exclusion, not inclusion, of names from voter rolls. The bench, on the other hand, directed the paralegal volunteers to file confidential reports with the district judges concerned, and the same would be considered on September 8.

RJD and AIMIM have sought an extension of the deadline to file claims and objections in the poll revision exercise in poll-bound Bihar. The deadline for filing claims and objections for inclusion or exclusion of elector names from the draft roll was today.