The Supreme Court on Tuesday told Election Commission to file an affidavit stating that the name of one Gopal Seth along with other petitioners’ name was not deleted in the electoral list of Assam and also the present and past records pertaining to electoral list of Assam.

The bench comprising Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justices Deepak Gupta, Sanjiv Khanna was acting on the plea by Gopal Seth along with other petitioners demanding voting rights in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections for those whose names do not figure in the draft National Register of Citizens (NRC).

At today’s hearing, the Secretary of Election Commission who was present in person as per the apex’s court direction informed the bench that NRC and electoral roll are separate lists.

To which the bench enquired: “According to the provisions in law how frequently is the electoral list supposed to be revised/updated,” and directed the secretary to appraise the bench regarding addition or deletion of names in the electoral list from Jan 1, 2018 to Jan 1, 2019.

The bench kept the matter for next hearing in the last week of March.

—India Legal Bureau