'Not bound by rules': EC opposes ADR's plea to disclose details of 65 lakh missing voters

The Election Commission of India (ECI) has opposed a plea by the political think tank Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), which sought details of about 65 lakh people who were left out of the draft electoral roll.

ADR had urged the Supreme Court to direct the ECI to publish a list of those excluded and provide reasons for their non-inclusion.

According to Live Law, the ECI told the court:

1. “It is not bound by the Rules to publish a separate list of persons not included in the draft electoral roll.”

2. “It is also not required under the Rules to furnish the reasons for the non-inclusion of persons in the draft Roll.”

3. “It has shared with political parties the booth-level list of individuals whose Enumeration Forms were not received.”

4. “Persons not included in the draft have the option of submitting a declaration for inclusion.”

On Saturday, the EC assured the SC that in Bihar, any deletion of voters’ names from the draft electoral roll—published on August 1 during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise would happen only after prior notice is issued, clearly stating the grounds for removal.

The commission said that an exclusion of a name from the draft electoral roll does not amount to deletion of an individual from electoral rolls. It said draft roll simply showed that duly filled enumeration form of existing electors has been received during enumeration phase.

"But, on account of human involvement in execution of this exercise of scale, there is always a possibility that an exclusion or inclusion might surface due to inadvertence or error," it said.

The EC said prior to publication of draft electoral roll, it had directed the CEO and others to share with political parties the booth-level list of individuals whose enumeration forms were not received due to any reason and seek their assistance for reaching out to them.

It alleged that the petitioner's approach was consistent with its earlier attempts to malign EC by building false narratives on digital, print, and social media. 

The commission also filed a separate affidavit explaining steps taken to publicise the SIR exercise and ensure every voter is aware of the process.

These included house-to-house visits by Booth Level Officers (BLOs) to collect enumeration forms, Hindi advertisements in 246 newspapers to reach people working in other states, as well as SMS and social media campaigns.

The ECI maintained that it has “taken every possible step to ensure that no eligible voter is excluded.”

(With inputs from PTI)