New Delhi: The Election Commission of India (ECI) has in an affidavit in the Supreme Court on Thursday (October 16) denied  that there has been a disproportionate exclusion of Muslims in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls in Bihar and said that the petitioners “communal approach is to be deprecated”.

It has also said to the court that the objective of the petitioners who have challenged the contentious exercise is to “derail and disrupt the SIR in Bihar” and prevent the conduct of the exercise in the rest of the country. 

“The petitioners have sought to allege that there is disproportionate exclusion of Muslims – 25% among the 65 lakh excluded voters from the draft electoral roll, and 34% among the 3.66 lakh electors finally deleted. This is based on some software for name recognition, whose accuracy or appropriateness cannot be commented upon. This communal approach is to be deprecated,” the affidavit said.

Also read: No Doubt EC Will Fulfill Responsibility in Publishing Voter List Changes: Supreme Court on SIR

The affidavit further states that the electoral roll data base does not capture elector’s religion and the 65 lakh individuals left out of the draft rolls were excluded on account of death, permanently shifted or being registered in more than one constituency.

“Electoral rolls database does not record or capture any information about an elector's religion,” it said.

“Moreover it is incorrect because the 65 lakh individuals not included in the Draft Electoral Roll had been segregatedly published on the website of the CEO/DEO as per this court's order, and most of those not included did not file any objections or correction applications. These 65 lakh individuals were not included as they did not submit Enumeration Forms being dead, having permanently shifted or having entries in more than one constituency.”

In its affidavit the Election Commission also said the petitioners that include who claim to be "public spirited bodies" have not made "any attempt to assist persons" whose names have been deleted or who have grievances for inclusion or exclusion.

"This indicates that the petitioners have ulterior motives and are merely content with making false allegations to discredit the SIR exercise, the final electoral roll and the ECI for electoral interest of political parties," the affidavit said.

It also said that the petitioners had made a “great hue and cry” about notices not being served to the 3.66 lakh voters deleted in the final roll after the SIR, but later failed to provide a single specific example of such a case despite being directed by the Supreme Court to do so. 

“This indicates that no such grievance exists in reality,” the affidavit said adding that there was “a grave danger in entertaining such submissions when elections have already been announced in Bihar.”

Also read: Bihar SIR Data: Strong Correlation Between Voter Deletions and Seats Won by Opposition MGB in 2020

It further said that all 3.66 lakh voters whose names were deleted had been served notices by the Electoral Registration Officers (ERO/AERO) and given an opportunity to be heard including speaking orders were passed in each case, and copies of those orders were provided to the affected individuals.

At the end of the three-month long contentious SIR exercise the final electoral roll published on SIR saw about 47 lakh net deletions. The draft list published on August 1 had 7.24 crore electors, with 65 lakh voters left off from it. Another 3.66 lakh ineligible voters were removed from the draft list and 21.53 lakh eligible voters were added through Form 6. 

While petitioners urged the court to direct the Election Commission to publish the names of those excluded in the final roll, the bench of Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi said that it has “no doubt” that the poll body will fulfil its responsibility in publishing the list. 

Bihar goes to the polls next month, with polling due to be held in two phases on November 6 and 11.

The court will hear the pleas challenging the SIR again on November 4.

The Wire is now on WhatsApp. Follow our channel for sharp analysis and opinions on the latest developments.