Disenfranchising Millions Negates Constitutional Order, Says Justice Bhuyan at NALSAR
Supreme Court judge Justice Ujjal Bhuyan on Sunday addressed an event at NALSAR University of Law in Hyderabad, stating that any process resulting in the wholesale disenfranchisement of millions of Indian citizens is intrinsically arbitrary and amounts to a negation of the constitutional order.
Speaking at the campus, Justice Bhuyan rejected arguments attempting to rationalise such actions, asserting that no amount of whataboutery could justify stripping people of their franchise.
Justice Bhuyan highlighted that the Indian Constitution does not provide for or recognise two classes of citizens—those with voting rights and those without them. He explained that any exercise resulting in mass disenfranchisement reduces individuals to second-class citizens within their own country.
Such a process, the Supreme Court judge stated, directly violates Articles 14 and 326 of the Constitution. By leaving citizens without voting rights, any such measure undermines basic constitutional guarantees.
“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 a voting right, such a process is intrinsically arbitrary. No amount of whataboutery can justify it,” Justice Bhuyan said.
He further stressed the institutional damage of such moves, cautioning that they erode foundational principles. “Such a process strikes at the very heart of the Constitution. I would go to the extent of saying that it is a negation of the constitutional order that has been adopted under the Constitution of India,” he added.
