Bihar Assembly Election 2025: Supreme Court says it will 'intervene' on voter roll dispute only if...

The Supreme Court, on Tuesday, said the Election Commission (EC) is a constitutional authority and it is deemed to act in accordance with law, but if there is mass exclusion in the special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar, the court will step in. A bench of Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi fixed a timeline for considering a batch of pleas challenging the Election Commission's SIR exercise in Bihar, and said that hearing on the issue will be held on August 12 and 13.

Senior advocate Kapil Sibal and advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for petitioners, once again alleged that people are being left out from the draft list to be published on August 1 by the poll panel, and they will lose their crucial right to vote. Bhushan said the EC has issued a statement that 65 lakh persons have not submitted the enumeration forms during the SIR process as they are either dead or have permanently shifted elsewhere.

He submitted that these people will have to apply afresh for inclusion in the list.

What did the Supreme Court say about the Bihar voter roll dispute? 

Justice Surya Kant said, "The Election Commission of India, being a Constitutional authority, is deemed to act in accordance with the law. If any wrongdoing is done, you bring it to the notice of the court. We will hear you." Justice Bagchi told Bhushan, "Your apprehension is that 65 lakh-odd voters will not feature in the draft list. Now, ECI is seeking corrections in the electoral roll. We are overviewing the process as a judicial authority. If there is mass exclusion, we will immediately step in. You bring 15 people whom they say are dead and are alive." 

Sibal, appearing for RJD MP Manoj Jha, said the Election Commission knows who these 65 lakh people are, and if they mention their names in the draft list, no one will have a problem. "If the draft list is conspicuously silent, you will bring to our notice," Justice Kant said.

Senior advocate Rakesh Dwivedi, appearing for the poll panel, said that even after the draft list publication, enumeration forms can be filed. The bench asked the petitioners and the poll panel to file their written submissions by August 8.

Bihar SIR row hearing: SC not to stop the publication of draft roll on August 1

It appointed nodal officers from the petitioners' side and the Election Commission side for filing written submissions/compilations. On Monday, underscoring the "presumption of genuineness" of Aadhaar and voter ID, the top court refused to stay the publication of the draft electoral rolls in poll-bound Bihar, and said it would once and for all decide pleas against the Election Commission's SIR of electoral rolls.

It asked the poll panel to continue accepting Aadhaar and voter ID for the SIR exercise in Bihar in compliance with its order, saying both documents had a "presumption of genuineness".

Senior advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan, appearing for NGO Association for Democratic Reforms, had submitted that the electoral rolls should not be finalised in the interim, pressing for an interim stay on the publication of the draft rolls on August 1. The apex court, however, referred to the top court's previous order, noting the petitioners did not press for an interim relief, which couldn't be allowed now, and said the matter would be interpreted once and for all.

On July 10, a bench headed by Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia asked the EC to consider Aadhaar, voter ID, and ration cards as valid documents, as it allowed the poll panel to continue with its exercise in Bihar. The top court on Monday said the Election Commission suggested that the list of 11 documents for SIR was not inclusive but exhaustive, and they were using both Aadhaar and voter IDs for the purpose of identification.

Dwivedi said Aadhaar was not a proof of citizenship, and the voter card was not relied upon as it was a revision exercise, or else there was no use in such an exercise. Justice Kant had then remarked, "Any document on earth can be forged. The Election Commission can deal with cases of forgery on a case-by-case basis. Instead of en masse exclusion, it must be en masse inclusion." 

Dwivedi said the poll panel was accepting both Aadhaar and voter IDs, but with certain supporting documents. The EC affidavit has justified its ongoing SIR of electoral rolls in Bihar, saying it adds to the purity of the election by "weeding out ineligible persons" from the electoral rolls.