New Delhi: The Supreme Court has agreed to hear on July 10 a batch of pleas challenging the Election Commission of India’s (ECI) move to conduct a Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in poll-bound Bihar.
A bench of Justices Sudhanshu Dhulia and Joymalya Bagchi agreed to list the matter on Thursday and allowed the parties to give advance notice of the petitions to the Election Commission of India and serve copies of the petitions. The bench however refused to pause the exercise for now.
Senior advocates Kapil Sibal, Abhishek Manu Singhvi, Gopal Sankaranarayanan and Shadan Farasat jointly mentioned the matter before the apex court.
The advocates on July 7 told the bench that voters who fail to submit the forms with the specified documents will face the harsh consequence of being deleted from the electoral roll, even if they have voted in elections for the last twenty years.
The petitions challenging the ECI decision were filed by Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) MP Manoj Jha, the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), activist Yogendra Yadav, Trinamool MP Mahua Moitra, and former Bihar MLA Mujahid Alam.
The petitions sought a direction to quash the ECI’s June 24 directive, which requires large sections of voters in Bihar to submit proof of citizenship to remain on the electoral rolls.
ADR, in its petition, has submitted that the ECI order imposes fresh documentation requirements and shifts the burden of proof from the state to the citizen.
The petition also raised concerns over the exclusion of widely held documents like Aadhaar and ration cards, stating that this would disproportionately affect the poor and marginalised voters, especially in rural Bihar.
“The SIR order, if not set aside, can arbitrarily and without due process disenfranchise lakhs of voters from electing their representatives, thereby disrupting free and fair elections and democracy in the country, which are part of the basic structure of the Constitution,” the petition submitted.
Meanwhile, the electoral revision exercise being undertaken in Bihar ahead of the upcoming Assembly elections is progressing smoothly on the ground, with Booth Level Officers (BLOs) completing their first round of visits to nearly 1.5 crore households across the state.
According to official data, more than 87 per cent of Enumeration Forms have already been distributed during the door-to-door verification drive, which is being carried out as part of the Election Commission’s ongoing efforts to update and verify the electoral rolls.
As per SIR, to have one’s name included in the Draft Electoral Roll to be published on August 1, 2025, the strict condition for an elector is to sign and submit the pre-printed Enumeration Form before July 25, 2025. Simultaneous verification of the uploaded forms has also been started.
Verification will commence vigorously from August 2, 2025, onwards, following the publication of the draft electoral rolls. Based on the published Draft of Electoral Rolls, Claims and Objections will be received from any political parties or any member of the public from 2nd August 2025 onwards. The final electoral rolls will be published on September 30, 2025. Appeals can also be filed thereafter with the DM and the CEO.
The ECI ongoing drive has sparked a major political tug of war between the leaders of NDA and the Grand Alliance. The Mahagathbandhan has also called a Chakka Jam (shutdown) on the issue on July 9.
Earlier Union Minister Chirag Paswan on July 5 defended the revision of electoral rolls being undertaken in Bihar, urging political stakeholders not to view the exercise through a partisan lens. He described the process as a routine yet crucial measure to ensure the accuracy and integrity of voter data.
“Don’t make this just a political issue. This is a process of sanitisation which has been followed from time to time. It is important to follow it,” Paswan said, emphasising that the exercise is aimed at maintaining a clean and credible electoral system.
The Union Minister noted that the names of deceased individuals and non-local residents often appear in voter rolls. “It has been seen many a time that slips are being issued even for those people who died decades ago. It is also seen that sometimes the names of non-locals are also on the voter list,” he stated.
#WATCH | Patna: On Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar, Union Minister Chirag Paswan says, "…Don't make this just a political issue. This is a process of sanitisation which has been followed from time to time. It is important to follow it. You must… pic.twitter.com/MFvVLd4RXO
— ANI (@ANI) July 5, 2025
He added that his party remains available to assist citizens facing genuine difficulties during the revision drive
“So, an effort has been made to simplify the process. Still, if someone comes to us with an issue, we try to help them after speaking to the Administration. We are so concerned about intruders. So, we will have to adopt this process gradually,” he added.
