SIR success in Bihar, doubts in Tamil Nadu, Bengal unfounded: Election Commission to SC

The ECI said petitioners had “relied upon false figures deliberately placed to mislead” the court. “The data produced by them regarding possession of the 11 documents by electors of Bihar was incorrect. The ECl has, through the Booth Level Officers (BLOs) and other officials, enabled the electors to obtain the necessary documents as per their eligibility,” it said.

The poll body said “the successful inclusion of 7.42 crore electors, including first time electors…despite the fact that large number of electors from the last electoral roll being found dead, permanently shifted, or enrolled at multiple places shows that the fears of the petitioners were completely unfounded and misconceived”.

The affidavit pointed out that no appeal was filed by any individual alleging exclusion, which “shows that the SIR exercise was conducted fairly and the electorate of Bihar is satisfied with SIR 2025”.

The ECI said that like in Bihar, the contentions about “possibility of mass disenfranchisement and improper implementation of SIR” in Tamil Nadu too are “highly speculative and exaggerated… aimed at obstructing and derailing the SIR exercise” and that the plea by CPI(M) leader P Shanmugam was “to politicise the SIR exercise in order to serve vested political interests”.

The poll body said that the Commission is empowered “to verify the citizenship status of an individual for the limited purpose of ensuring that an individual fulfils the eligibility criterion of being on the electoral roll”.

On the Electoral Registration Officer (ERO) reporting suspected cases of foreigners to the appropriate authority, it said a Home ministry circular (August 8, 2017) directed all state/UT authorities to identify illegal migrants and initiate the deportation process. “Therefore, if the EROs have reasonable basis to suspect the citizenship of an individual, it is their duty to report such cases to the relevant Authority,” the affidavit said.

On the SIR in West Bengal, it stated that the statement in TMC MP Dola Sen’s petition that “more than 45% of voters in the state’s current electoral rolls do not match the 2002 list indicating that there are mass discrepancies and exclusions” is incorrect and “categorically denied”.

The ECI said that apprehensions about “persecution of minorities, particularly Muslims; adverse impact on women” etc. “are purely speculative, false, misconceived, erroneous” and “unsustainable”. Article 325 of the Constitution “clearly provides that no person shall be ineligible for inclusion on grounds only of religion”, it said, adding that “a Muslim who is a citizen of India needs not entertain any fear about exclusion merely on account of his religion. They are subjected to the same principles of scrutiny under the SIR as any other non-minority.” The ECI said that “the present SIR does not involve the police”.

On the petition claiming panic in the Matua community, it said there “is no reason for” this as the “the exercise is still in enumeration phase”.