‘No Two Classes of Citizens’: Justice Bhuyan on SIR and Voter Rights
Justice Ujjal Bhuyan’s remarks on SIR put voter rights, disenfranchisement and constitutional protections at the centre of an escalating political debate.
By Pranjal Gupta
New Delhi, October 5: Opposition parties have strongly backed Supreme Court Judge Ujjal Bhuyan’s remarks on the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, particularly his assertion that any exercise that leaves millions without the right to vote would be “intrinsically arbitrary”. Speaking at his valedictory address at NALSAR University of Law, Hyderabad, on Sunday, Justice Bhuyan said that no amount of “whataboutery” could justify a process that disenfranchises millions of Indian citizens.
The Supreme Court judge stressed that the Constitution does not provide for two classes of citizens - those with the right to vote and those without it.
He said any process that takes away a citizen’s right to vote would violate Articles 326 and 14 of the Constitution. “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 a voting right, such a process is intrinsically arbitrary. No amount of whataboutery can justify it,” he said.
“It strikes at the very heart of the Constitution and I would go to the extent of saying that it is a negation of the constitutional order which we have adopted under the Constitution of India,” he added.
Justice Bhuyan said the right to vote was a manifestation of the freedom intertwined with India’s long struggle against foreign rule. Citing a Supreme Court order, he said the right to vote could not be divorced from the mandate of Article 326.
‘Right to Vote Cannot Be Detached’
Referring to another Supreme Court ruling, Bhuyan said the apex court had laid down guidelines to be followed in cases involving the deletion of voters from electoral rolls. “From the persona of an Indian citizen, the right to vote or right to be included in the voters list cannot be detached. It will be like taking out the soul from the body,” Bhuyan said.
Reacting to the remarks, NCP (SP) national spokesperson Clyde Crasto said Justice Bhuyan’s statement on SIR upheld the Constitution and democratic principles. “Any arbitrary disenfranchisement of voters violates their fundamental right to vote,” Crasto said.
He alleged that the BJP’s “whataboutery” was an attempt to cover up alleged wrongdoings by Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and the Election Commission of India.
Maharashtra Congress president Harshwardhan Sapkal also backed Bhuyan’s remarks, claiming that constitutional rights were being “trampled upon and disrespected” in the country. “It is widely known now that our rights are being trampled, the rights given by the Constitution are being disrespected and what the SC Justice has said is actually a fact,” Sapkal said.
SIR Draws Intensifying Political Opposition
Bhuyan’s remarks come amid growing political opposition to the Election Commission’s ongoing SIR exercise and protests against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over the poll panel’s decisions concerning the revision of electoral rolls.
The issue has increasingly become a flashpoint between the Election Commission and opposition parties, with INDIA bloc leaders alleging mass deletion during the SIR. The ruling side, however, has defended the revision process and questioned the opposition’s objections.
(With PTI Inputs)
