Now Reading: SC Justice Ujjwal Bhuiyan calls voter disenfranchisement arbitrary
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SC Justice Ujjwal Bhuiyan calls voter disenfranchisement arbitrary
Supreme Court Justice Ujjwal Bhuiyan said on Sunday, 4 October that any process which deprives millions of Indian citizens of their voting right is arbitrary and unconstitutional. Speaking at the NALSAR University of Law in Hyderabad, he stated that such a process violates Articles 326 and 14 of the Constitution. He stressed that no authority or court can justify this, and that the Constitution is above everyone.
Justice Bhuiyan linked the right to vote to India's freedom struggle, calling it a central part of the basic structure doctrine. The comments come amid protests by opposition parties and student groups in multiple cities, demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over alleged irregularities in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voter lists. A petition against Kumar is scheduled for hearing in the Supreme Court on Monday, 5 October.
Indian Opinion Analysis
Both tv9hindi.com and aajtak.in provide neutral, verbatim coverage of Justice Bhuiyan's speech, with no pro-government or critical framing of the Election Commission. The two outlets differ only in that tv9hindi.com devotes substantial space to detailing the opposition protests in Delhi and Mumbai, including specific party names and the detention of activists, while aajtak.in focuses entirely on the judicial remarks. The uniform reporting of the speech itself reinforces the judge's unambiguous language on voting rights as constitutional, not merely statutory. The key development to follow is the Supreme Court hearing on the petition against the CEC on Monday, 5 October.
Coverage: 2 sources, 2 neutral
Sources (2): tv9hindi.com (neutral report), aajtak.in (neutral report)
This brief was synthesised by AI from the 2 sources linked above, so one read covers every framing they carry. Methodology and corrections.
