The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear on Monday a batch of pleas challenging the Election Commission’s decision to undertake a special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in poll-bound Bihar. A bench of Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi is likely to take up the matter in which the EC has justified its ongoing SIR of electoral rolls in Bihar, saying it adds to the purity of the election by “weeding out ineligible persons” from the electoral rolls.
The poll panel, while justifying its June 24 decision directing the SIR, has said all major political parties were “involved” in the exercise and deployed more than 1.5 lakh booth-level agents to reach out to eligible voters, but are opposing it in the apex court. The SIR adds to the purity of elections by weeding out ineligible persons from the electoral rolls, the ECI has said in a detailed affidavit filed to counter the allegations of petitioners, which include several political leaders, civil society members and organisations.
“The entitlement to vote flows from Article 326 read with Sections 16 and 19 of the RP Act 1950 and Section 62 of the RP Act 1951, which contains certain qualifications with respect to citizenship, age, and ordinary residency. An ineligible person has no right to vote, and thus, cannot claim a violation of Articles 19 and 21 in this regard,” it said. Meanwhile, in a rejoinder affidavit, the NGO ‘Association for Democratic Reforms’, the lead petition in the case, has claimed that the Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) are vested with broad and unchecked discretion
that could result in disenfranchisement of a significant segment of Bihar’s population. “The petition submits that the SIR order dated June 24, 2025, if not set aside, can arbitrarily and without due process disenfranchise lakhs of citizens 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 NGO said.
It said the exclusion of Aadhaar and ration cards from the list of acceptable documents in the SIR of Bihar’s electoral rolls is patently absurd and that the EC has given no valid reason for its decision. The NGO further claimed that the SIR is being conducted in such a manner that constitutes a grave fraud on voters and the Booth Level Officers (BLOs) are being found signing enumeration forms themselves and those dead are shown to have filled up forms, and those who hadn’t filled up forms getting a message that their forms had been completed.