Supreme Court Judge Bhuyan Criticizes Voter List Revision as Arbitrary and Unconstitutional

File photo: Supreme Court of India Judge Justice Ujjal Bhuyan (PTI Photo)

NEW DELHI: Launching a scathing attack on special intensive revision (SIR) that has resulted in large-scale deletion of names from voter lists across states, Supreme Court judge Justice Ujjal Bhuyan on Sunday said any process disenfranchising millions of Indian citizens was intrinsically arbitrary as it struck at the heart of the Constitution. Discounting the reasons given by govt and EC to justify SIR, which was upheld in the case of the revision of rolls in West Bengal by SC with modifications, Justice Bhuyan said, "No amount of whataboutery can justify it. It strikes at the very heart of Constitution. I would go to the extent of saying that it is a negation of the constitutional order which we have adopted under the Constitution." He was speaking at the moot court valedictory function at Nalsar, Hyderabad. Nalsar students, who had opposed CJI Surya Kant's participation in the convocation ceremony recently, came in for praise from Justice Bhuyan. "One last word about the brilliant students of Nalsar. You have shown to the country and to the world what a university student, that too a student of law, should be. You are brilliant, you are bold, and you are brave," he said.

Detaching right to vote from citizen is like taking soul out of body: Bhuyan

Justice Bhuyan said a citizen’s right to vote was central to the holding of free and fair elections. "Except in the case of a dead voter, the name of a voter once enlisted in the electoral roll cannot be deleted without notice and hearing," he added. The SC judge said the right to vote or be included in the voters’ list could not be detached from the persona of an Indian citizen. "If it is done, it will be like taking out the soul from the body," he added. Justice Bhuyan said the Indian Constitution does not provide for two classes of citizens: citizens with voting rights and citizens without voting rights. "Any process which leads to wholesale disenfranchisement of Indian citizens, making them citizens without voting rights, would be violative of Articles 326 and 14 of Constitution of India," he said. "If any process results in disenfranchising millions and millions of Indian citizens, making them second class citizens in their own country in the sense of being citizens without voting rights, such a process is intrinsically arbitrary," he added, his remarks coinciding with attacks on EC and govt over SIR by the opposition and others.

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Justice Bhuyan said the right to vote was intertwined with India’s years of struggle against foreign rule. "It is a manifestation of our freedom achieved after so much struggle and sacrifice. Article 326 (universal adult franchise) cannot be tinkered with at all. No authority can do it, no court can condone it. No one is above Constitution," he said.

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