ADR's approach communal: Election Commission tells Supreme Court on claim of Muslims' exclusion in Bihar SIR

The electoral rolls database does not capture any information about the elector's religion, says Election Commission's counsel

The petitioner, represented by senior advocate Sanjay Hegde, sought a direction to constitute a committee under the chairmanship of retired Supreme Court judge to keep a close watch on the entire election process and the Election Commission.

New Delhi: The Election Commission on Thursday sought to reject before the Supreme Court an allegation that there was a "disproportionate exclusion of Muslims" in the Special Intensive Revision exercise carried out in Bihar.

Election Commission's counsel senior advocate Rakesh Dwivedi submitted before a bench of Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi that the petitioner's (Association of Democratic Reforms, an NGO) argument was based on some name-recognition software, the accuracy of which was doubtful.

It called the petitioner's argument a "communal approach" which is to be deprecated.

Dwivedi maintained that the electoral rolls database does not capture any information about the elector's religion.

The Election Commission sought dismissal of the batch of pleas which challenged the June 24 decision of the poll panel to conduct the Bihar SIR.

The Election Commission claimed that the petitioners have “ulterior motives” and are merely content with making “false allegations” to discredit the SIR exercise, final electoral rolls and the Election Commission for the electoral interest of political parties.

A batch of petitions was filed by ADR, People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), Yogendra Yadav, Lok Sabha Member from the Trinamool Congress Party Mahua Moitra, Rashtriya Janata Dal MP Manoj Jha, Congress leader K C Venugopal and former Bihar MLA Mujahid Alam.