The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to take up petitions challenging the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar on July 10.
A Bench of Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia and Justice Joymalya Bagchi listed the matter for hearing on Thursday with senior advocates Kapil Sibal, Abhishek Manu Singhvi, Gopal Sankaranarayanan and others mentioning petitions filed by various NGOs and political parties to seek urgent hearing.
Apprehending that a large number of voters may get disenfranchised, petitions have been filed by NGOs and political leaders, including the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), the People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), activist Yogendra Yadav, TMC MP Mahua Moitra and RJD’s Manoj Jha,.
Noting that there were eight crore electorate in Bihar, Sibal and Singhvi called the exercise an impossible task. “The timeline is so strict, and by July 25 if you don’t submit the form, you will be out,” Singhvi said to which Justice Dhulia pointed out that the timeline did not have sanctity as elections had not been notified, according to reports
Controversy, the timeline
The EC on June 24 issued instructions to carry out an SIR in Bihar “to weed out ineligible names and ensure only eligible citizens are included in the electoral roll,” a decision that led to much hue and cry from the opposition camp in the poll-bound state.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge called it a “conspiracy by the BJP-RSS to snatch away the voting rights of Dalits and other deprived sections” .Observers say that the sudden announcement also took the opposition ‘Mahagadbandhan’ (Grand Alliance), by surprise, forcing them to look for new strategies to counter it which tracking existing plans.
Following a controversy over an advertisement, the EC on Sunday asserted that SIR was “being implemented smoothly at the ground level” and that “there was no change in instructions”. It also made it clear that while voters were required to “submit their documents any time before July 25, 2025,” those who failed to do so would get an opportunity “during the claims and objections period.”
“SIR in Bihar is progressing as per Election Commission’s order dated June 24, 2025. As per that order, the draft electoral rolls that will be issued on August 1, 2025, will contain the names of the existing electors whose enumeration forms are received,” it said
The exercise, the first since 2003, aims to weed out ineligible individuals and ensure only eligible citizens were included in the electoral rolls and that it had become necessary due to rapid urbanisation, frequent migration, young citizens becoming eligible to vote, non-reporting of deaths, and inclusion of the names of foreign illegal immigrants, as per the EC
However, apprehending potential disenfranchisement of nearly three crore voters, the ADR had on Saturday filed a PIL and urged the top court to stay its implementation.
Political implications
Assembly polls are due in Bihar later this year and the exercise aiming to cover nearly eight crore voters by July 25 has become a major political issue in the state.
The opposition apprehends that those weeded out will largely be their voters. RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav has also questioned why the current exercise is being carried out only in Bihar.
The BJP-led NDA, in turn, accused the opposition of trying to come up with an “excuse ahead of a certain defeat in elections”.
