Bihar SIR row: Will step in if there’s mass exclusion of eligible voters, says SC
The Supreme Court on Tuesday said it will step in if there was mass exclusion of eligible voters in poll-bound Bihar and the Election Commission deviated from its June 24, 2025, notification on Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.
“We are over-viewing the thing as a judicial authority. If there is mass exclusion, we will immediately step in. Bring 15 people saying they are alive, we will deal with it,” a Bench of Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi said after senior counsel Kapil Sibal and advocate Prashant Bhushan expressed apprehension on behalf of the petitioners about mass exclusion of eligible voters.
Asking the petitioners to file their written submissions by August 8, the Bench fixed August 12-13 to hear petitions challenging the SIR of electoral rolls in Bihar ahead of Assembly elections in October-November 2025.
Sibal and Bhushan alleged that people were being left out from the draft electoral roll to be published on August 1 by the EC and that they will lose their right of voting.
The Bench appointed nodal officers from petitioners’ side and the Election Commission side for filing written submissions/compilations.
On behalf of the EC, senior advocate Rakesh Dwivedi said procedure allowed filing of objections to the draft list and those left out can always file their objections.
Describing the Election Commission as a constitutional body, the Bench said it has to abide by the law and if any wrong was being committed, the petitioners could bring it to its notice.
The Supreme Court had on Monday refused to stay the publication of draft electoral rolls as per SIR schedule in Bihar but asked the Election Commission to accept Aadhaar, voter ID as identity proof during the exercise.
As per the Election Commission’s SIR Order, the Draft Electoral Roll will be published on August 1, 2025. Printed as well as digital copies of each booth will be provided to all 12 political parties. The draft roll will also be available on the Chief Electoral Officer’s website for anyone to check.
Noting that it would once for all decide the PILs against the special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, the Bench had asked the poll panel to include Aadhaar and voter ID in the list of documents for identity proof, the Bench said, instead of mass exclusion, there should be mass inclusion in the electoral roll.
Dwivedi had said the commission was accepting Aadhaar, but with a supporting document.
While hearing than 10 petitions, including those by the ‘Association for Democratic Reforms’ and the People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), against SIR of electoral rolls in Bihar, the top court had on July 10 asked the Election Commission to consider including Aadhaar, Voter I-Card, Ration Card as identity proof.
Apprehending potential disenfranchisement of nearly three crore voters, several political parties/leaders have also moved the top court against SIR.
However, in its affidavit filed in response to PILs challenging its June 24 order for SIR, the EC said Aadhaar, Voter I-Card and Ration Card can’t be accepted as “sufficient standalone documents for the purpose of screening of eligibility prescribed under Article 326.”
The EC had on June 24 ordered an SIR in Bihar — first since 2003 — to weed out ineligible individuals and ensure only eligible citizens were included in the electoral rolls. 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.
Nation