SC orders ECI to publish reasons, names of 65L deleted voters
The Supreme Court of India Thursday August 14, 2025 ordered the Election Commission of India (ECI) to publish the reasons and names of over 65 lakh voters deleted from the electoral rolls following the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise in Bihar
New Delhi: The Supreme Court of India Thursday August 14, 2025 ordered the Election Commission of India (ECI) to publish the reasons and names of over 65 lakh voters deleted from the electoral rolls following the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise in Bihar.
“Since this action can have some civil consequences of depriving a citizen or a person of the right to franchise, a fair procedure is required,” Justice Surya Kant, heading the bench also comprising Justice Joymalya Bagchi, said.
The SC in its interim order also said that the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of Bihar should also keep soft copies of district wise lists of voters who have not been included in draft list, with reasons, on CEO website.
Following the SC interim order Thursday, the ECI agreed to make available online a searchable booth-wise list of the voters deleted from the electoral rolls with reasons.
The ECI also agreed to publish the booth-wise list of 65 lakh voters on the notice board by each Booth Level Officer (BLO) in their respective offices and at Block Development/Panchayat Offices.
Coming after 3-days of extensive debate, the SC interim order today is seen as a huge victory for the petitioners who included MPs Manoj Kumar Jha, K C Venugopal, Mujahid Alam and Mahua Moitra, Activist Yogendra Yadav, NGOs ADR and People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL).
The lawyers who represented the petitioners in the Supreme Court included Kapil Sibal, Abhishek Manu Singhvi, Prashant Bhushan, Vrinda Grover.
The respondent, the Election Commission of India (ECI), defended the Bihar SIR exercise through its senior advocate Rakesh Dwivedi.
The SC order came after the petitioners through their counsels raised serious issues in the draft list of voters published by the Election Commission. It was brought to the notice of the apex court how hundreds of voters are shown at one address, living voters declared dead, discrepancies in names of voters etc.
The petitioners claimed that the exercise is not “Special Intensive Revision” but “Special Mass Deletion”.
The case is listed for further hearing on August 22 at 2 pm.
The draft roll was published on August 1, with the final list scheduled for release on September 30, 2025. The Supreme Court of India in the last hearing Tuesday had warned the exercise can be set aside if any "illegality" is found.
Also on Tuesday, some voters, who have been declared dead and excluded from the voter list, appeared before the Supreme Court bench hearing the case.
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