Supreme Court hears Bihar SIR case: LIVE UPDATES

The Supreme Court is hearing a batch of petitions challenging the Election Commission of India’s (ECI) 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 ECI has defended its directive, asserting that it is empowered to undertake such an exercise and that the revision is crucial to ensure that only eligible citizens are included in the electoral rolls ahead of the upcoming Bihar Assembly elections.

In the last hearing of the matter, the Court declined to pass any blanket order to address exclusions and inclusions of names in the voters' list prepared amid the SIR process. Instead, it asked the affected individuals to file appeals before the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of the State.

Live updates from the hearing today feature here.