The Supreme Court has said it will annul the entire Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar if any illegality is detected in the methodology adopted by the Election Commission of India (ECI). A bench comprising Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi reportedly made this observation while hearing a plea challenging the SIR process.
How the elections in Bihar have come under sharp scrutiny could be gauged by the fact that India’s Election Commission recently unveiled updated draft electoral rolls for the state, where high-stakes elections are due this November. The revision, carried out under the SIR exercise from 25 June to 26 July, aimed to clean up the state’s voter list, reportedly untouched since 2003. According to the commission, its officials physically verified details of all 78.9 million registered voters in the state during this one-month drive.
However, opposition parties and election watchdogs alleged the exercise was rushed. Many voters in Bihar have told media outlets that the updated rolls contain glaring mistakes, ranging from mismatched photographs to the inclusion of deceased individuals.
The new draft rolls list 72.4 million voters. That’s 6.5 million fewer than the numbers recorded in the past. The Election Commission claims the deletions were justified. It attributed them to 2.2 million deceased voters, 700,000 duplicate entries, and 3.6 million who moved out of the state.
Yet, allegations have flown thick and fast. Mud-slinging over procedural lapses and widespread discrepancies now form the backdrop to a legal battle in the Supreme Court. This could be one that could determine not just the outcome of the electoral rolls in Bihar but also set an example for how such revisions are conducted across the country.
The top court said that its final decision would carry nationwide consequences for the SIR exercise, declining to offer any interim or fragmented opinion on the matter. The final hearing on the validity of the SIR in Bihar has been scheduled for October 7.
The bench noted, “We are presuming that the poll panel, being a constitutional authority, had followed the law and mandatory rules in the conduct of the SIR.”
Earlier, on September 8, the Supreme Court ordered that Aadhaar be accepted as the twelfth valid document for inclusion in Bihar’s electoral rolls under the ongoing SIR. This directive came amid reports that election officials were refusing to recognise Aadhaar despite previous instructions permitting its use.
The court rejected the Election Commission’s objections. It declared clearly that although Aadhaar does not establish citizenship, it remains a legitimate proof of identity and residence.
The SIR exercise has drawn criticism from opposition parties, who allege that lakhs of genuine voters have been removed from the rolls without proper verification. A key point of contention has been the exclusion of Aadhaar from the EC’s original list of 11 acceptable documents. Critics argue that this move unfairly penalizes voters, given that Aadhaar is far more widely held than many other forms of identification.
On August 18, the Election Commission released a draft list indicating that 65 lakh names had been deleted as part of the SIR process.
In response to mounting criticism, the poll panel has lashed out at opposition parties, accusing them of misleading voters and unfairly blaming the Commission with what it described as “vote chori” (vote theft) allegations.
Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar has called upon Congress leader and Lok Sabha Opposition head Rahul Gandhi to either provide evidence-backed affidavits or issue a public apology for his accusations against the Election Commission.
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