ADR moves Supreme Court challenging EC’s revision of electoral rolls in Bihar
Apprehending potential disenfranchisement of nearly three crore voters, the Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR) on Saturday moved the Supreme Court questioning the Election Commission’s decision to conduct a Special Intensive Revision of Electoral Rolls (SIR) in Bihar which is going to the polls in October-November, 2025.
The Election Commission (EC) had on June 24 decided to carry out an SIR in Bihar — first since 2003 — to weed out ineligible individuals and ensure only eligible citizens were included in the electoral rolls.
According to the EC, the exercise was necessitated by rapid urbanisation, frequent migration, young citizens becoming eligible to vote, non-reporting of deaths, and inclusion of the names of foreign illegal immigrants. It said that with the exercise, it wants to ensure the integrity and preparation of error-free electoral rolls. The SIR is being conducted by the booth officers, who are conducting a house-to-house survey for verification.
The EC asserted it will scrupulously adhere to the constitutional and legal provisions as laid down in Article 326 of the Constitution and Section 16 of the Representation of the People Act in carrying out the revision.
However, the ADR’s petition filed through advocate Prashant Bhushan urged the top court to set aside the EC’s SIR Order as being arbitrary and violative of Articles 14, 19, 21, 325 and 326 of the Constitution as well as provisions of Representation of People’s Act, 1950 and Rule 21A of the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960.
Pending its petition, the petitioner NGO urged the top court to stay the implementation of EC’s June 24, 2025 SIR Order to conduct an SIR of the electoral rolls in poll-bound Bihar.
“That the documentation requirements of the directive, lack of due process as well as the unreasonably short timeline for the said Special Intensive Revision of Electoral Rolls in Bihar further make this exercise bound to result in removal of names of lakhs of genuine voters from electoral rolls leading to their disenfranchisement,” the ADR submitted.
The EC’s SIR order “can arbitrarily and without due process” disenfranchise lakhs of voters and disrupt free and fair elections, it alleged.
“The order dated 24.06.2025 issued by ECI has shifted the onus of being on the voters’ list from the State to citizens. It has excluded identification documents such as Aadhar or ration cards which further make marginalised communities and the poor more vulnerable to exclusion from voting.
“The Declaration as required under the SIR process is violative of Article 326 in so far as it requires a voter to provide documents to prove his/her citizenship and also citizenships of his/her mother or father, failing which his/her name would not be added to the draft electoral rolls and can be deleted from the same,” the ADR submitted.
India