Plea in Supreme Court challenges ECI revision of electoral roll in Bihar

Hindustan Times

a day ago

The Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR), a non-governmental organisation (NGO), has approached the Supreme Court questioning the manner and timing of the Election Commission's decision to undertake a special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in poll-bound Bihar amid a political storm over the issue. The Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR) filed the petition in the Supreme Court through Advocate Prashant Bhushan
In its public interest litigation (PIL), ADR said SIR needs to be set aside, as insisting on people to prove their citizenship and that of their parents within short notice and without relying upon easily available identity documents such as Aadhaar card will potentially disenfranchise nearly 3 crore voters.
The petition filed through Advocate Prashant Bhushan on Friday said, 'The order dated June 24 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 Aadhaar or ration cards which further make marginalised communities and the poor more vulnerable to exclusion from voting.'
Terming that the timing and manner adopted by ECI was suspect, the petition alleged that SIT violates fundamental rights under Articles 14, 19 and 21, besides other provisions of the Constitution. It said, '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 basic structure of the Constitution.'
While ECI has begun the exercise, Opposition parties have criticised the move raising similar apprehensions as raised in the petition.
The declaration as required under the SIR process is violative of Article 326, the petition said, 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 roll and can be deleted from the same.
Section 21(3) of the Representation of the People Act, 1950 (RPA) allows ECI to direct a special revision of electoral rolls 'for reasons to be recorded.' While deletion of names from electoral rolls can be on grounds of death, nonresidence, or disqualification mentioned under Section 16 of RPA,
'While SIR of Bihar or any other state of country is a positive step, the manner in which ECI has directed the conduct of SIR in a poll bound state like Bihar, has raised questions from all stakeholders, particularly the voters,' ADR stated.
Coupled with this, 'ECI has issued unreasonable and impractical timeline to conduct SIR in Bihar with close proximity to state elections which are due in November 2025,' that could disenfranchise lakhs of voters in the state who do not possess any of the 11 documents required under the SIR order and whose names do not figure in the 2003 electoral roll, it added.
A Special Summary Revision (SSR) was carried out between October 29, 2024 and January 6, 2025 to address issues of migration and ineligible voters due to death or other reasons. Pointing to this fact, the petition said, 'There is no reason for such a drastic exercise in a poll bound state in such a short period of time, violating the right to vote of lakhs of voters.'
The problem is aggravated due to Bihar being a state with high poverty and migration rates where persons, mostly belonging to the marginalised communities, may lack access to documents such as birth certificates or parental records. 'As per estimates, over 3 crore voters and more particularly from marginalized communities (such as SC, STs and migrant workers) could be excluded from voting due to the stringent requirements as mentioned in the SIR order. The current reports from Bihar, where SIR is already underway, show that lakhs of voters from villages and marginalized communities do not possess the documents sought from them,' the petition added.
ECI on Friday announced that over 68.6 million enumeration forms have been distributed in Bihar, covering over 87% of the 79 million enrolled electors as of June 24, under the SIR exercise. BLOs completed visits to nearly 15 million households by July 4. 'The first visit of BLOs to nearly 1.5 crore households...has been completed today and over 87% Enumeration Forms (i.e. 6,86,17,932) out of 7,89,69,844 (nearly 7.90 crore) electors in Bihar who are enrolled as on June 24, 2025, have been distributed during SIR exercise being conducted in the state,' ECI said in a press release.
Under the SIR exercise, the first in the state since 2003, voters have to give documents to prove their date and place of birth along with the forms being distributed in all districts – if their name doesn't figure in the 2003 rolls. There are a total of 11 documents an elector can provide.
The poll watchdog has said that the exercise will eventually be carried out nationwide