Bihar SIR row: No deletions without due process, Election Commission tells Supreme Court

Faced with allegations of deleting lakhs of eligible voters from electoral rolls during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in poll-bound Bihar, the Election Commission (EC) has asserted that no eligible voter will be removed without prior notice, an opportunity to be heard and a “reasoned and speaking order”.

In an affidavit filed in the Supreme Court ahead of the August 12 hearing, the poll panel said it has issued strict directions to prevent wrongful deletion of voters from electoral rolls.

The EC submitted that “as a matter of policy and in strict adherence to the principles of natural justice, no deletion of any elector’s name from the draft electoral roll, published on 1^st August 2025, shall be undertaken without: (i) issuance of a prior notice to the concerned elector indicating the proposed deletion and the grounds thereof, (ii) affording a reasonable opportunity of being heard and furnishing relevant documents, and (iii) passing of a reasoned and speaking order by the competent authority. These safeguards are further reinforced by a robust two-tier appeal mechanism prescribed under the relevant rules, thereby ensuring that every elector has adequate recourse against any adverse action.”

The poll panel said that “in order to ensure that even those electors who may have missed filling their enumeration form and whose names, for any reason whatsoever, do not find place in the draft roll are not excluded, the Commission issued a detailed advertisement in Hindi for the general public setting out the timeframe and the manner for filing applications and participating in the claims and objections period so as to secure inclusion of their names before the final publication of the roll.”

The affidavit has been filed in response to the August 6 direction of the Supreme Court requiring the Election Commission to furnish by Saturday details of around 65 lakh voters deleted from the draft electoral rolls in Bihar.

On August 1, the EC came out with the ‘draft electoral rolls’ in Bihar, enlisting 7.24 crore voters. However, it deleted more than 65 lakh names from the voter list, claiming that most of the deleted voters had either died or migrated. The final electoral roll will be out on September 30, 2025.

Of the total 65 lakh voters removed from the draft rolls, 22.34 lakh were dead and 36.28 lakh were in the category of permanently shifted/absent while 7.01 lakh voters were enrolled at more than one places, the EC said.

In a fresh application, petitioner Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) had sought a direction to the poll panel to publish names of around 65 lakh deleted voters clarifying if they were dead, have permanently migrated or they were not considered for any other reason.

“We will see (to it) that every voter likely to be affected gets the required information,” the Bench had assured on August 6.

On July 29, the Bench had said it would step in if there was mass exclusion of eligible voters in poll-bound Bihar and the Election Commission deviated from its June 24, 2025, SIR notification. “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,” the Bench had said, posting the matter for hearing on August 12 and 13.

On behalf of the ADR, advocate Prashant Bhushan had alleged that 75% voters who filled the enumeration form did not furnish any supporting documents as mentioned in the list of 11 documents but their names were included on the recommendation of Booth Level Officer (BLO). Some political parties were given a list of deleted voters but there was no further clarification if the said voters were dead or they had migrated, he alleged.

Responding to the ADR’s allegations, the EC said that a 10-point verification and inclusion mechanism involving booth-level visits, political party participation, targeted awareness campaigns and special assistance for vulnerable groups was in place and that it was taking “every possible step” to ensure that no legitimate voter was excluded from electoral rolls.

The EC said after the completion of the first stage of SIR, the draft electoral rolls were published on August 1 following house-to-house visits by BLOs to collect enumeration forms from existing voters.

Explaining the SIR process, it said names of those left out were shared with Booth Level Agents of recognised political parties on July 20-12 days before the publication of draft electoral rolls to allow corrections and updated lists were again shared with political party representatives.

The EC said the Chief Electoral Officer of Bihar, 38 District Election Officers (DEOs), 243 Electoral Registration Officers (EROs), 2,976 Assistant Electoral Registration Officers (AEROs), 77,895 Booth Level Officers (BLOs), 2,45,716 volunteers, and 1,60,813 Booth Level Agents (BLAs) appointed by all major political parties were involved in the SIR exercise.

It has undertaken specific measures such as SMS campaigns, repeated BLO visits, and introduced a provision for any BLA to submit up to 50 forms daily; advertisements in 246 newspapers to reach temporary migrants; urban camps in all 261 urban local bodies; and advance enrolment drives for young voters turning 18 before October 1, 2025 to avoid exclusions, the EC said.

The poll panel said it made special arrangements for senior citizens, persons with disabilities, and vulnerable voters in obtaining necessary documents and district officials promptly addressed issues highlighted in the media.

India