Person born in India has right to remain on electoral roll, vote: Supreme Court | India News

New Delhi: What can give a political handle TMCThe SC on Monday observed that a person born in India has the right to be in the electoral roll and to vote to elect the government. A section of the bench headed by CJI Surya Kant, Justice Jayamalya Bagchi said, “Somewhere we are getting blinded by the dust and fury of the upcoming elections. The right to be on the roll and to vote in the country where you were born is something that is not only constitutional but also emotional. It is the greatest expression of nationalism and patriotism that you are in a participatory process to elect a democratic government. This is something we have to think about seriously.” Justice Bagchi also said that the original SIR did not contemplate verifying the 2002 rolls

The judge did not indicate whether people born to illegal immigrants in India would have the same voting rights as natural-born citizens. The bench, however, rejected the appeal by the Appellate Tribunal to allow eligible voters to vote. Senior advocate DS Naidu, appearing for the Election Commission, said there was nothing unusual about the SIR in West Bengal as the deletion rate was similar to the percentage data on deletion of voters from the electoral rolls of other states. The controversy arose after senior lawyer Rauf Rahim allowed voting by the Appellate Tribunal to those found eligible even though the voter list was closed. Justice Bagchi said, “We are not worried about Bengal standing out or being part of a common theme of SIR. But logical inconsistency was not a category in other states. There is facility of hearing in meritorious cases during scrutiny which was not given during scrutiny by judicial officers, mainly due to heavy workload and proximity of elections.” Justice Bagchi said that if 10% of the voters in a constituency are wiped out, the margin of victory is 15% or more, then the election results will appear rigged. “However, if the margin of victory in a constituency is 2% and removal is 10%, then we will consider such cases,” he said. “If one considers the EC’s original SOP on SIR, there was no question of touching those whose names were in the 2002 voter list. But now you have examined cases where the names in the 2002 voter list did not match the names filled in the enumeration form. That is why we have exercised extraordinary powers and pressured Service Judicial Officers to examine the claims and objections and verify the enormous work accompanying the documents. “We cannot rush the process,” he said, adding that this is why a comprehensive appellate forum was created by the SC, which sought to ensure a fair process without the intention of inflating or removing the voter list. More than 34 lakh appeals have been filed so far. When Naidu said the state’s failure to appoint sufficient number of high-ranking officials for scrutiny led to the delay, Justice Bagchi said, “This is not a fight between the state and the EC. It is not a blame game. It is a question of sandwiching the electorate between constitutional entities. From the EC’s point of view, it has furthered the best interests of the state. The court is the enabler and not to decide who is right and who is wrong.“ CJI Surya Kant ended the debate by saying that there is no need for an academic exercise at present. In its order, the bench said, “We will not entertain any application for inclusion before the judgment of the appeal. Let the tribunals decide the appeal and we will decide the future course of action.” It asked the petitioner to approach the tribunal and seek an out-of-turn hearing. The 19 Appellate Tribunals began working in full force on Monday. The SC also asked the EC and the state to continue providing security through state police and central armed police forces to the WB judicial officers who participated in the SIR operation. “Their security cover shall not be withdrawn without prior permission from the SC,” the bench said, adding that it could be further extended after assessment of the security threat.