The most anticipated wait has turned out to be the anti-climax. Those who thought that on July 28, the Supreme Court would decide the fate of SIR (Special Intensive Review) of Bihar’s electoral list must be hugely disappointed. The two-judge bench refused to stop the publication of the draft voters list.

The matter will now be heard in the court on some other day, and that date will be decided tomorrow. This clearly opens the doors for the ECI (Election Commission of India) to go ahead with its process, and it seems once the list is put in, then it will be difficult to stop the whole process, as was hoped by the petitioners who challenged EC’s SIR.

The petitioners might find solace in the Supreme Court’s further reiteration that the Aadhar card and EPIC card should be considered for electoral lists. The Supreme Court had requested, in its last hearing on July 10, that the EC should consider the Aadhar card, ration card, and EPIC for the verification of genuineness of the voters.

The EC, in its affidavit, stubbornly rejected the Supreme Court’s advice, stating that these cards could be fake, to which Justice Kant said any card could be fake and requested, once again, to admit the two cards.

It is really perplexing why the EC refused to accept the SC’s advice and why, despite the SC categorically stating that it is not the EC’s job to verify the citizenship status of an individual, the EC has claimed that it must ensure only........

© Free Press Journal