New Delhi, Aug 14 (IANS) The Supreme Court on Thursday refused to halt the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of Bihar’s electoral rolls in what is being seen by the BJP as a major blow to the Congress and its ecosystem, “who had tried every trick to stop the process”.

Instead, the Court only asked the Election Commission to publish a searchable list of the 65 lakh deleted names, give reasons for each deletion, publicise the list widely, and allow Aadhaar to be used for identity verification.

BJP National President JP Nadda slammed the Congress’s “hollow celebration”, saying: “Congress tried every trick and deceit to stop SIR but had to face disappointment in the Supreme Court today. Now, in sheer desperation, Congress is clutching at non-issues and parading them as ‘moral victories’. The fact remains that all their canards are being rejected, exposed, and defeated one by one. Congress has yet again lost the case and lost the plot.”

According to the BJP, the Opposition’s true goal — to derail the SIR and shield fraudulent entries in the voter list — has failed. The Court has allowed the revision to continue. The procedural directions only ensure transparency, not any endorsement of the Congress’s baseless allegations, the party says.

According to ECI, not a single RJD–Congress booth-level agent has filed a complaint. All parties had access to the list of 65 lakh deleted voters — yet now, they cry foul for the cameras, it added.

And on Aadhaar? The Supreme Court was clear: it’s to establish identity, not citizenship. So much for the Opposition’s scare campaign. According to the party, in their desperation, the Congress is busy dancing around a verdict that exposed their deceit — and confirmed what the BJP has said all along: the process is clean, legal, and transparent. JP Nadda’s words say it all — the Congress has lost the case and lost the plot, say political observers.

–IANS

brt/dan