'It appears to be a case of trust deficit': SC on row over Bihar SIR
'It appears to be a case of trust deficit': SC on row over Bihar SIR
M.U.H
13/08/202525
NEW DELHI: Challenging the constitutional validity of the Bihar Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise, a batch of petitioners on Tuesday told the Supreme Court that the alleged exclusion of about 65 lakh voters from the draft electoral roll published on 1 August, without any objection to their inclusion, is illegal.
“Despite residents holding Aadhaar, ration and EPIC cards, officials refused to accept the documents. People were struggling to find birth certificates and other documents of their parents,” Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for RJD MP Manoj Kumar Jha and many others, submitted.
After hearing these submissions from Sibal, a two-judge bench of the top court headed by Justice Surya Kant told him, “It is a very sweeping statement you are making that in Bihar nobody has the documents. If this happens in Bihar, then what will happen in other parts of the country?”
Opposing the Bihar SIR process, Senior Advocate Abhishek Singhvi, representing different political parties, also questioned the timeline, just before the Bihar state polls, for the completion of the exercise, and the data of 65 lakh voters who were declared dead, migrated, or registered in other constituencies.
During the course of the hearing, the bench observed, “If out of 7.9 crore voters, 7.24 crore voters responded to the SIR, it demolishes the theory of one crore voters missing or disenfranchised.”
The top court stressed that as per the Rules, persons who were excluded have to submit applications for inclusion, and it is only at this stage that anyone’s objection will be considered.
The bench, which also comprised Justice Joymalya Bagchi, on Tuesday heard the arguments of the petitioners in the pleas challenging the Election Commission’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of Bihar’s electoral rolls. The arguments were inconclusive and would continue on Wednesday.
Sibal added that while in one constituency in the state, contrary to the poll panel’s claims, 12 people declared dead were found alive, in another instance, living persons were allegedly declared dead.
The court remarked that it “largely appears to be a case of trust deficit, nothing else”. It agreed with the submissions on the Election Commission’s decision not to accept Aadhaar and voter cards as conclusive proof of citizenship in the ongoing exercise and said it had to be supported by other documents.
The respondent, the Election Commission of India (ECI), defending the Bihar SIR exercise through its senior advocate Rakesh Dwivedi, said the exercise of such a nature was bound to have some defects at the draft stage.
“… to claim dead persons are declared alive and alive as dead could always be corrected as it was only a draft roll. This process can be rectified,” Dwivedi submitted to the top court.
The top court is hearing a batch of pleas against the Election Commission’s electoral roll revision exercise in Bihar.
Earlier, the EC had pleaded to the SC for dismissing the batch of pleas in the Bihar SIR issue, clarifying that such electors would be afforded a reasonable opportunity of being heard and of furnishing relevant documents.
“As a matter of policy and in strict adherence to the principles of natural justice, no deletion of any elector’s name from the draft electoral roll of Bihar published on 1 August, 2025, as part of the Special Intensive Revision, would be undertaken without issuance of a prior notice and passing of a reasoned and speaking order by the competent authority,” the ECI told the apex court.
“The petitioners in the Bihar SIR case are attempting to mislead the court. The petitioners have come to court with unclean hands and deserve heavy costs to be imposed upon them,” the ECI said.
On 28 July, the Supreme Court in its order refused to stay the EC from publishing the draft voters’ list on 1 August, 2025, after the SIR exercise in Bihar. It also reiterated and asked the EC to complete the process while considering including Aadhaar and voter ID cards for establishing statutory correctness.
Earlier, on 10 July, the apex court’s two-judge vacation bench, in its last order, while refusing to stay the Bihar voter list revision, asked the ECI to complete the process.
“In our prima facie view, since the list is not exhaustive, in our opinion, it will be in the interest of justice, the ECI will also consider the Aadhaar card, Electoral Photo Identity Card issued by the Election Commission and the ration card,” the bench had said.
The apex court on 10 July had passed the direction after hearing a batch of petitions challenging the decision of the ECI to undertake the SIR of electoral rolls in poll-bound Bihar.
On Monday, 21 July, the ECI had told the top court that 90% of electors had already submitted enumeration forms. “Apart from ensuring no one is left out from the list, special focus on poor, marginalised etc. is being given.”
The ECI also defended, in its affidavit, Aadhaar’s exclusion from the list of 11 documents, saying it does not help in screening the eligibility of a voter under Article 326. It, however, maintained that the list of documents was indicative, not exhaustive.
The top court was hearing the pleas filed by NGO ADR, People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), Yogendra Yadav, Lok Sabha Member of Parliament (MP) from the Trinamool Congress Party Mahua Moitra, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) MP Manoj Jha, Congress Party leader K C Venugopal and Mujahid Alam.
The petitioners sought a direction from the top court to set aside the ECI’s SIR order of 24 June, 2025.
“Issue a writ, order or direction setting aside Order and Communication dated 24.06.2025 and accompanying guidelines issued by the ECI to conduct SIR of the electoral rolls in Bihar as being in violation of Articles 14, 19, 21, 325, 326 of the Constitution of India and provisions of the Representation of People (RP) Act, 1950, and Registration of Electors Rules, 1960,” said the plea of ADR, filed in the top court.
“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,” said the NGO ADR in its plea filed in the top court.
