Bihar voter list revision challenged in Supreme Court
The Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR) has challenged in the Supreme Court of India the Election Commission of India’s (ECI) decision to revise the electoral rolls and voter lists in Bihar
New Delhi: The Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR) has challenged in the Supreme Court of India the Election Commission of India’s (ECI) decision to revise the electoral rolls and voter lists in Bihar.
Announced barely few months before the 2025 state elections, the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls by the Election Commission of India (ECI) in Bihar has been opposed by the Congress and other political parties.
Organizations, like Jamiat e Ulama i Hind, have also criticized the decision, calling it impractical. The Jamiat has also urged the ECI to withdraw, what it called, its hasty decision.
After all the pleas by the opposition parties and NGOs fell on deaf ear, the ADR decided to approach the Supreme Court.
The ADR in its petition warned, if the process not stopped, risks arbitrary and without due process removal of lakhs of voters from the list.
“The documentation requirements of the directive, lack of due process as well as the unreasonably short timeline for the said Special Intensive Revision of Electoral Roll in Bihar (SIR) further make this exercise bound to result in removal of names of lakhs of genuine voters from electoral rolls leading to their disenfranchisement,” the ADR said in its petition.
The ADR in its petition highlighted that the voter list revision process announced by the Election Commission is impossible to be completed before the upcoming Bihar assembly elections.
“The ECI has issued unreasonable and impractical timeline to conduct Special Intensive Revision of Electoral Roll (SIR) barely few months before the state (Assembly) elections, which are due in November 2025", the ADR said.
The ADR said the requirement of citizenship documents contravenes the requirement of specific grounds for deletion of names from electoral rolls (e.g., death, non-residence, or disqualification under Section 16 of the Representation of the People Act, 1950).
The ADR in its petition claimed that lakhs of voters from villages and marginalised communities do not possess the documents being sought from them, and they should not be excluded from voting due to the stringent requirements as mentioned in the SIR order.
The petition said that the ECI's directive, issued under Section 21(3) of the Representation of the People Act, 1950, lacks recorded reasons supported by any evidence or transparent methodology, rendering it “arbitrary” and thus liable to be struck down.
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