SC to hear RJD plea to extend SIR deadline

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday agreed to hear on Monday RJD's request for a week's extension of the Sept 1 deadline for people in Bihar to submit their claims and objections to the draft voter list prepared by the Election Commission after special intensive revision (SIR).

Appearing for RJD, advocate Prashant Bhushan told a bench of Justices Surya Kant, Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul M Pancholi that a large number of applications seeking inclusion of names in the voter list is streaming in and pleaded that it would be prudent for the EC to extend the Sept 1 deadline by a week to enable every person left out of the voter list to take corrective measures.

The bench asked Bhushan as to why RJD is not making such a request to EC. "If the EC finds the request genuine and backed by facts, it will surely extend it," the bench said. But Bhushan persisted with the request for an urgent hearing to which the bench acceded and posted the applications for hearing on Monday.

Appearing for some other applicants, senior advocates Shoeb Alam and Shadan Farasat told the bench that prior to the Aug 22 order of the SC impleading all 12 recognised political parties in Bihar in the proceedings, as many as 80,000 claims and objections were filed. Since Aug 22, nearly 95,000 more such applications have been filed, which is indicative of more people finding discrepancies in the draft voter list.

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