NGO moves Supreme Court challenging ECI’s Special Intensive Revision of rolls in Bihar

The Election Commission of India’s move to conduct a Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in poll-bound Bihar came under challenge in the Supreme Court on Saturday (July 5, 2025) for violating the rights to adult suffrage, non-discrimination, dignity and equality of the ordinary and marginalised people of the State.

Also read: Special Intensive Revision: Enumeration forms given to 87% electors in Bihar, says Election Commission

The petition filed by NGO, Association for Democratic Reforms, represented by advocates Prashant Bhushan and Neha Rathi, contended that the SIR communication from the Election Commission of India (ECI) on June 24 breach the provisions of Representation of People’s Act, 1950 and Rule 21A of the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960.

The SIR order, if not set aside, can arbitrarily and without due process disenfranchise lakhs of voters from electing their representatives, thereby disrupting free and fair elections and democracy in the country, which are part of the basic structure of the Constitution,” the petition submitted.

It said the documentation requirements of the directive, lack of due process as well as the unreasonably short timeline for SIR of electoral roll in Bihar pose the risk of throwing out the names of lakhs of genuine voters from electoral rolls leading to their disenfranchisement.

‘Over 3 crore voters could be excluded from voting’

Mr. Bhushan said the SIR move shifts the onus of being on the voters’ list from the State to the citizens. “It has excluded identification documents such as Aadhar or ration cards which further make marginalised communities and the poor more vulnerable to exclusion from voting… As per estimates over three crore voters and more particularly from marginalised communities (such as SC, STs and migrant workers) could be excluded from voting due to the stringent requirements as mentioned in the SIR order. That the current reports from Bihar, where SIR is already underway, show that lakhs of voters from villages and marginalised communities do not possess the documents as being sought for them,” the petition highlighted.

The petition said the SIR process in Bihar was violative of Article 326 (adult suffrage) in so far as it requires a voter to provide documents to prove his/her citizenship and also citizenships of his/her mother or father, failing which his/her name would not be added to the draft electoral roll and can be deleted.

“ECI has issued unreasonable and impractical timeline to conduct SIR in Bihar with close proximity to State elections which are due in November 2025. There are lakhs of citizens (whose names did not appear in 2003 electoral roll) who do not possess the documents as required under the SIR order, there are many who may be able to procure the documents but the short timeline mentioned in directive may preclude them from being able to supply the same within the time period… Bihar is a State with high poverty and migration rates where many lack access to documents like birth certificates or parental records,” the petition noted.

Since 2003, five general elections and five assembly elections have taken place in Bihar with continuous addition and deletion of names in Bihar’s electoral roll.

Moreover, Special Summary Revision (SSR) was already conducted between October 29, 2024 and January 6, 2025 which addressed issues such as migration and ineligible voters due to death or other reasons. “Thus, there is no reason for such a drastic exercise in a poll-bound State in such a short period of time, violating right to vote of lakhs of voters,” the petition argued.