How will Election Commission ban doubtful voters from Bihar electoral roll? Here's what we know

Bihar is all set to witness its next assembly election later this year - and the Election Commission (EC) is in the process of weeding out the doubtful voters from the electoral roll. The voters who have failed to prove their Indian citizenship will not be able to vote in the state election, the poll body said. On Friday (August 1), the EC released a draft of the electoral rolls. The roll had 65 lakh names vanish after an extensive verification exercise. The process of verification was aimed at identifying individuals who had either died or migrated. The poll body will now launch the next phase of the verification that will involve identifying the ‘D’ voters, i.e. doubtful voters.

This initiative will focus on two key identification markers and aims to clarify the status of voters flagged under suspicion categories.

The people who are under the radar are the ones who have yet to submit the list of documents the poll body asked for to prove their citizenship. If they fail to do so by September 1, they will be subjected to scrutiny. Between 1 August and 1 September, voters and political parties can request the addition of eligible names that were missed or raise objections to names that should not be on the list.

Your Aadhaar Card is NOT your citizenship proof?

Last month, the Election Commission said that Aadhaar is not a document to prove Indian citizenship. Meanwhile, on July 10, the Indian apex court asked the EC for the reason behind the declaration. A judge on the bench hearing the plea of voters around the proof of citizenship in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voter lists in Bihar said even he could not show all the documents mandated, especially in the short timeline set.

The question of the Supreme Court came after senior advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan pointed out that even though Aadhaar is an acceptable document as per the Representation of the People Act, the poll panel is not considering it valid for the Bihar SIR. In response, the EC's lawyer, Senior Advocate Rakesh Dwivedi, told the court: “Aadhar Card cannot be used as proof of citizenship.”

Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia remarked: "… citizenship is an issue to be determined not by the Election Commission of India, but by the MHA (Ministry of Home Affairs)."