Bihar Special Intensive Revision Row: Supreme Court calls Bihar’s voter roll revision a ‘trust-deficit’ issue as ECI defends its Special Intensive Revision process amid allegations of mass voter deletions. Hearing continues
New Delhi – The Supreme Court on Tuesday described the ongoing controversy over Bihar’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls as “largely a trust-deficit issue.” The observation came while hearing a batch of petitions challenging the Election Commission of India’s (ECI) June 24 decision to carry out the voter roll revision exercise in the state.
A Bench of Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi questioned the claim that nearly one crore voters could be disenfranchised due to the SIR exercise. The court noted that out of Bihar’s 7.9 crore registered voters, around 7.24 crore responded to the verification process, undermining the theory of mass deletion.
Key Takeaways
- Supreme Court calls Bihar’s SIR controversy a “trust-deficit” issue.
- Out of 7.9 crore voters, 7.24 crore reportedly responded to verification.
- ECI refuses to accept Aadhaar and voter IDs as sole proof of citizenship.
- Petitioners allege large-scale wrongful deletions and timeline issues.
- Case continues, with final hearing expected to address disenfranchisement concerns
ECI Defends the Process
The ECI told the court that 6.5 crore voters did not need to submit fresh documents since their names or their parents’ names were already present in the 2003 electoral roll. The poll body also maintained that Aadhaar cards and voter IDs could not be considered conclusive proof of citizenship without supporting documents.
Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, representing RJD leader Manoj Jha, argued that many voters faced difficulties producing birth certificates or parental documents, even when they had Aadhaar, ration cards, and EPIC voter IDs.
Justice Kant countered this argument, saying:
“It is a sweeping statement to claim that nobody in Bihar has documents. If that were true, what would happen in other parts of the country?”
Concerns Over Voter Deletions
Political activist Yogendra Yadav, speaking in person before the court, alleged that the SIR was designed to delete voters rather than update the rolls. He claimed that 65 lakh voters were marked as dead, migrated, or registered in other constituencies, and accused booth-level officers of focusing on deletions instead of genuine verification.
Senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi and advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for other political parties, also raised concerns about the timeline of the exercise and the accuracy of ECI’s voter data.
Sibal further highlighted irregularities, pointing out cases where 12 people declared dead were found alive, and in other instances, living voters were incorrectly marked as deceased.
ECI’s Response
Senior advocate Rakesh Dwivedi, appearing for the Election Commission, acknowledged that minor errors were inevitable during a draft stage of such a large exercise. He assured the court that corrections could be made before the final electoral roll is published.
“An exercise of this scale is bound to have some defects at the draft stage, but these can be corrected through the claims and objections process,” Dwivedi stated.
The hearing will resume on Wednesday, as the court continues to examine whether the SIR in Bihar violates the Right to Vote by potentially disenfranchising large sections of the electorate.