The Supreme Court is hearing a batch of petitions challenging the Election Commission of India’s June 24 directive for a Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar.
A Bench of Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi is hearing the matter.
The petitioners have raised concerns that the SIR process permits arbitrary deletion of voters without adequate safeguards, potentially disenfranchising lakhs of citizens and undermining free and fair elections.
The Election Commission has defended its directive, asserting that it is empowered to undertake such an exercise under Article 324 of the Constitution and Section 21(3) of the Representation of the People Act, 1950.
It has maintained that the revision was necessary in light of urban migration, demographic shifts, and long-standing concerns about the accuracy of existing rolls, which had not been intensively revised in nearly twenty years.
The Commission has further submitted that the SIR is crucial to ensure that only eligible citizens are included in the electoral rolls ahead of the upcoming Bihar Assembly elections.
One of the issues that the Court is considering has been the list of documents that may be accepted by the Election Commission to verify the identity of voters to retain their names in the electoral list.
On July 10, the top court had urged the Election Commission to consider Aadhaar, ration card and electoral photo identity card (EPIC card) as admissible documents for this verification exercise.
The Commission, however, later submitted an affidavit stating that neither Aadhaar cards nor ration cards can be treated as proof of eligibility to vote.
The petitioners have challenged the exclusion of these documents as absurd.
The petitioners include opposition leaders from various States, and organizations such as the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), the People's Union for Civil Liberties, and the National Federation for Indian Women.
More recently, the ADR filed an interim application urging the Court to direct the ECI to disclose details of 65 lakh names recently dropped from a Bihar electoral roll published on August 1 as part of the SIR.
The ECI responded by stating that there was no legal requirement for it to disclose such reasons for publish a separate list of excluded voters.
It, however, added that no name will be struck off from Bihar’s draft electoral roll without prior notice, an opportunity to be heard and a reasoned order from the competent authority.
On Tuesday, the Court orally observed that the inclusion and exclusion of citizens and non-citizens from the electoral rolls falls within the remit of the ECI. It also remarked that ECI was right in stating that an Aadhaar card is not conclusive proof of citizenship.
In yesterday's hearing, the Court noted that the ECI's decision to accept more documents to prove a person's identity for being included in the electoral rolls appeared to be voter friendly.
Live updates from the hearing today feature here.
Hearing begins.
Advocate Nizamuddin Pasha appears for petitioner: This Court said if date of 1.1.2003 goes, then everything goes ... Nothing was there to show why date is there. The impression sought to be conveyed is they earlier date and as when intensive exercise was there. So EPIC card issued then is more reliable than issued during summary exercise is incorrect. See rule 25 of 1960 rules.
Pasha: Process of enrolling under intensive and summary is same. Then how can EPIC is discarded on that basis. Thus the date of 2003 is not valid and is not based on intelligible differentia.
Pasha: No receipt of my form being given or documents given. So on that basis BLO has an upper hand.
Justice Bagchi: But as per rules they should.
Pasha: Yes, I have filed an affidavit saying not given. BLO exercising discretion whether form has to be taken or not. System is heavy with discretion available to the lowest level officers.
Justice Bagchi: We would like ECI to state what documents were taken in 2003 exercise.
Pasha: Have the same put on record.
Justice Bagchi: Yes.
Bench takes a short break for 2 minutes
Senior Advocate Shoeb Alam makes submissions: I am on the right under section 21. See the operative part.. "reasons to be recorded." There is insufficiency of reasons in the impugned notification. The process invented is neither summary nor intensive and a creature of the impugned notification. The statutory limitations for the exercise of powers can only be done when reasons are recorded in writing.
Alam: This is a process of voter registration and cannot be a process of disqualification. This is a process to welcome, not to turn into a process to unwelcome.
Advocate Fauzia Shakil: ECI order is arbitrary and suffers from non-application of mind. First is haste shown.. see the timeline to complete the process in a state like Bihar. Even for 1 crore people to upload documents in a state which is not so advanced in digital literacy. Floods are worse in September and October and that is when the process is being carried out. When there is a suo motu deletion without notice, this is also against their own manual.
Fauzia Shakil: Interim prayer is to delink this hasty process from these elections and let Aadhaar be included, and let window for accepting objections be extended.
Advocate Rashmi Singh: BLO have been put through impractical tasks without adequate infrastructure. They have to collect 100 forms per day.. When it is difficult to even collect 40 forms per day. Only 0.37 per cent SC community has access to computers. This was their own caste survey.
Advocate Vrinda Grover: Form 6 is valid as per them. Let it be considered as a sufficient one .. since the constitutionality of the enumeration form is challenged before this court.
Matter to resume at 2 PM.
ECI to begin its reply.
Senior Advocate Rakesh Dwivedi for ECI: It has been argued that ECI has no power to look into citizenship, and then it is stated that since parliament has the power to make law to regulate... We cannot intervene and what is the ambit under Section 21 of the Representation of People's Act.
Dwivedi: I will contest everything on the grounds of reasonableness and rationality, and we will not assume the high pedestal that we are omnipotent and can do everything. We contend that ECI has enough reservoirs of powers under Article 324, section 15, and both 21(1) and (2) to take certain decisions.
Dwivedi: All the instances of dead, etc, shown by Yogendra Yadav was not taken in an adversarial manner..I instructed officers to look into this immediately. But to project Bihar as a very poor State with nothing digital and no certificate available.. it was made to appear that Bihar is a dark spot in a developing country. First President was from Bihar. Bihar is a land of enlightenment
Justice Kant: Yes, Nalanda
Justice Bagchi: it is the birthplace of democracy also.
Justice Bagchi: How many were there in the summary list of 2025?
Dwivedi: 7.89 crores
Justice Bagchi: How many omitted in the draft list.. ?
Dwivedi: 7.24 crores are there. 65 lakhs are not there. Plus, we have given the bifurcation.. 22 lakhs are dead. 6.24 crores will not be required to give any documents at all.
Justice Kant: Let us take, for the time being, that ECI has power for SIR. Then come to the procedural part. Now 65 lakhs are out.. You say 22 are dead. Now other side says serious dispute over who is dead and who is alive.
Justice Kant: Citizens on their own have their constitutional rights, and it is the right given to the citizens. Can you not have a system where they do not have to run behind political party representatives.
Justice Kant: If 22 lakh people have died, why is it not disclosed at the booth level? If it comes on the public domain, then that narrative will disappear.
Justice Bagchi: Departure of suo motu deletion is not permissible... The exception is special circumstances. That also allows a window for appeal against such deletions. The fundamental right to know why deleted requires the widest possible publicity...
Justice Kant: We do not want citizens right to be dependent on political parties
Dwivedi: Today, the exercise is of preparation. We have not deleted anybody. We have asked for the documents. If electoral roll is being revised.. the EPIC card will either get updated or excluded.
Justice Bagchi: EPIC card being rendered non est can only take place on invocation of powers under the Representation of People's Act.
Dwivedi: But if you are not dead you will come forward and give your names.
Justice Bagchi: Mr Dwivedi says you can enter the EPIC number of voter ID number on website and you have details. What we are asking is to be more transparent. We are saying instead of this, put the entire data set on the website.
Dwivedi: People marked as dead or non-existent.
Justice Bagchi: Or registered in another State..
Local villagers cannot be at the mercy of timing of the BLO: Justice Kant
Dwivedi: Yes, it can be done at the district level.
Dwivedi: This is the first time in history that officers have gone house to house with forms
Justice Bagchi: That's why you have merged section 21 and section 22.. the powers may be traceable.. but the manner in which you are doing it must be reasonable.
Dwivedi: Yes, we can put it up at the website of each district.
Justice Kant: We are not criticising political workers. Of course, they will have ideology. We are saying all people must be able to independently check the same.
Justice Bagchi: Aadhaar card is a statutorily recognised document for identity and residence.
Justice Bagchi: Mr Bhushan let us not jump the gun. ECI has just got the data. They are crunching the data
Bhushan: In some booths, people are not being recommended at all
Justice Bagchi: That may or may not be accepted by the electoral revision officer.
Dwivedi: This is the problem of ADR sitting in Delhi getting into this area of data mining.
Dwivedi: We can even put an advertisement in newspapers for the migrant workers to be able to check names, etc.
Justice Bagchi: Yes, that can be done within 48 hours.
Justice Kant: We will keep this case next Friday.
Sankaranarayanan: 65 lakhs excluded...enquiries had to be conducted... They say it's done.
Dwivedi: This is not fair.. then allow us to complete...
Sankaranarayanan: Let the enquiry be put up. There are no district websites also..
Court: Let us see how they comply with it
Court: The advertisement must have a layman friendly description.
Justice Bagchi: We propose a complete data set on the website.
Justice Kant: Anita Devi should know that if I go to this website, I will know how to get my name. In your public notice also it should be in the simplest language.
Sankaranarayanan: It has to be searchable... They uploaded once, and then removed it.
Supreme Court: Yes, it has to be searchable. Let it be done in 3 days. The website thing. The physical display will take some time, yes. The BLOs should display it outside their offices also
Sankaranarayanan: But Aadhaar, they are not taking.
Justice Bagchi: No, no, they have to.
Justice Kant: It is a statutory obligation. It has to be there.
Dwivedi: But this searching will be by EPIC number..
Justice Bagchi: If you are pasting all the names before the BLO office then why not on website.
Dwivedi: Because it violates the privacy judgment..
Justice Kant: But EPIC number must be with all right?
Court: Let us consider all this next Friday
Court: Once the issues of conflict will come, where judicial adjudication is needed, we will resolve that. We assure you, we are not shying away.
Court dictates interim order.
Order: We have briefly heard the Election Commission of India. During the course of hearing, the following steps are agreed: ECI will, as interim measure will take following steps:
List of 65 lakhs voters whose names appeared in 2025 list but are not included in the draft list, shall be displayed on the district level websites.
It will be displayed on the website of every district electoral officer. The same shall also reveal the reason for non inclusion in the draft roll. Wide publicity shall be given in vernacular language newspapers which has maximum circulation and it must be broadcast and telecast on Doordarshan and other channels. The District election officer if they have social media handle shall display the notice there as well
Order: Aggrieved persons may submit their claims along with copy of their Aadhaar cards. In addition the booth wise list of 65 lakh voters shall also be displayed on the noticeboard of all the panchayat bhavans and the Block development and panchayat offices so that people have manual access to the list
Hearing ends.