That the Supreme Court has permitted the Election Commission of India to continue with its special intensive revision of electoral rolls in Bihar will probably come as a relief to the institution. But some of the other observations by India’s highest court are likely to leave the EC with egg on its face. For instance, the apex court raised the issue of the exclusion of the Aadhaar card from the list of documents that was deemed acceptable to ensure electoral enumeration. Most importantly, it reminded the EC that the issue of deciding citizenship does not fall under the remit of the poll body: it falls under the domain of the ministry of home affairs. The Supreme Court’s suggestion that the EC consider including the Aadhaar card and the electors photo identity card among the documents that citizens can produce to be eligible for the revised electoral roll will be welcomed by countless people in that state. This is because in a country with a poor culture of record-keeping, thousands, especially those in rural Bihar, were finding it difficult to get hold of the prescribed documents other than the Aadhaar card or the voters’ identity card for the SIR endeavour. Worryingly, there are also reports of other inconsistencies; the Aadhaar card was being accepted in, say, Patna but not in Seemanchal.
The SIR also faces scrutiny on grounds other than its rushed nature and methodology. This is because this time, the EC seems to be eager to pass the burden of proof of electoral eligibility and even citizenship on to citizens who are enrolled as voters already. This wilful desertion of people at the hands of a leaky, bureaucratic rigmarole is unacceptable. It raises the risk of disenfranchisement of segments of the population, especially those on the margins. The insensitivity on the part of the EC could even lead to an erosion in the compact of trust between the people and this institution. That would be disastrous for India’s democracy. There can be no reservation about weeding out infirmities from the electoral rolls. This is crucial to ensure the sanctity of an electoral exercise. But such an exercise, as the Supreme Court seemed to allude to, has to be sensitive to timing, among other considerations. The EC has been indifferent to these imperatives. Why?