Justice Bhuiyan of Supreme Court says :Term It “Intrinsically Arbitrary”, “Illegal Knocking Out Of Common Man”
SUNIL NEGI
New Delhi/Hyderabad: Amid continuing protests by opposition parties, CJP and civil society groups against the Election Commission’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, two senior voices from the judiciary – sitting Supreme Court judge Justice Ujjal Bhuyan and former Supreme Court judge Justice Rohinton Fali Nariman – have come out with sharp criticism of the exercise, terming it unconstitutional and a threat to democracy.
Speaking at the valedictory address of the 19th NALSAR-Justice B R Sawhney Memorial Moot Court Competition at NALSAR University, Hyderabad on Sunday, October 4, Justice Bhuyan said that any process resulting in mass disenfranchisement was constitutionally impermissible.
“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. No amount of whataboutery can justify it. It strikes at the very heart of the Constitution,” Justice Bhuyan said.
He said the Constitution does not envisage two classes of citizens – one with voting rights and another without. Such a process, he said, would be violative of Article 14 (right to equality) and Article 326 (universal adult suffrage) and amounts to “negation of the constitutional order.”
“No authority can do it; no court can condone it. No one is above the Constitution. From the persona of an Indian citizen, the right to vote cannot be detached. It will be like taking out the soul from the body,” he said, adding that except in the case of a deceased voter, no name can be deleted from electoral rolls without prior notice and opportunity of hearing.
Justice Bhuyan did not name the SIR specifically, but his remarks come at a time when the SIR exercise has led to deletion of approximately 6.08 crore names across 9 states and 3 Union Territories, according to EC data, with the total voter base dropping from 51 crore to 44.92 crore. In West Bengal alone, nearly 90.8 lakh names were deleted – 58.25 lakh as dead, absent, shifted or duplicate, and 27.16 lakh after adjudication of 60.06 lakh cases marked under scrutiny.
The issue was flagged more directly by former Supreme Court judge Justice Rohinton Fali Nariman while speaking at Rajkumar College, Rajkot on ‘The Constitution and the Common Man’ on September 27, the video of which has gone viral amid the current protests demanding resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.
Justice Nariman said the heart of democracy – the right to vote – is in great peril due to “illegal knocking out” of voters and malfunctioning of the Election Commission.
“In West Bengal, 90 lakh voters were disenfranchised. That is an astounding figure. 90 lakh voters getting disenfranchised did not somehow move the Supreme Court enough to stay this,” Justice Nariman said.
Citing Live Law and TOI reports, he said out of those disenfranchised, around 22 lakh voters filed appeals, but only about 1 to 1.2 lakh appeals have been decided so far. Of those decided, 93% were decided in favour of the voters, restoring their names.
“So you can imagine, this was a completely illegal knocking out of the common man, the citizen of India, in order that a government obtains what it wants. And in West Bengal, we saw, it ousted the Government of the day and brought in the Government of the Centre. These are very disturbing things that are happening in our country,” Justice Nariman said, referring to the 2026 West Bengal Assembly results where BJP formed its first government.
Justice Nariman also questioned the 2023 law replacing the Chief Justice of India with a Union Cabinet Minister in the selection panel for Election Commissioners, calling it a red flag that puts executive dominance over the poll body.
Both judges’ remarks have added legal weight to the ongoing agitation at Jantar Mantar and Parliament Street, where opposition INDIA bloc, CJP and civil society have demanded suspension of SIR and a stay on appointments under the new CEC Act till the Supreme Court decides its validity. The Supreme Court is slated to hear the SIR and CEC appointment matters on Monday.
