While hearing pleas related to Bihar's Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise, the Supreme Court on Thursday pulled up the Election Commission of India for initiating the revision process just months ahead of the assembly elections and questioned the exclusion of Aadhaar cards from the exercise. The top court was listening to a clutch of pleas filed by the Opposition and others against the Election Commission of India's decision to revise the electoral list for the upcoming assembly polls in Bihar.
A partial working day (PWD) bench comprising Justices Sudhanshu Dhulia and Joymalya Bagchi was told by senior advocate Rakesh Dwivedi, appearing for the poll panel, that he has preliminary objections to the petitions.
During the hearing, the top court said that the steps taken by the poll panel to revise the voter list is mandated by the Constitution and last such exercise was undertaken in 2003.
"If you are to check citizenship under SIR of electoral rolls in Bihar, then you should have acted early; it is a bit late," said SC to EC.
Additionally, the top court said, "Why are you getting into the citizenship issue in the special revision of electoral rolls in Bihar? It is the domain of the MHA," the bench asked the poll body.
SC questions EC over citizenship
The apex court raised concerns over the exclusion of Aadhar in the 11 listed documents required to proof citizenship in the state. It questioned EC focus citizenship, noting that such matters fall under the jurisdiction of the home ministry.
"Why are you getting into the citizenship issue in the special revision of electoral rolls in Bihar? It is the domain of the MHA," the bench asked the poll body.
"If you are to check citizenship under the SIR of electoral rolls in Bihar, then you should have acted early; it is a bit late," it added.
Election Commission told the Supreme Court that citizenship is required to be verified to qualify as a voter in India under Article 326 of the Constitution.
Read more: Roll pe Rajneeti: How a list has triggered a full-blown political war in Bihar, and why parties are up in arms against EC
Opposition up in arms
Over 10 petitions have been filed in the SC, including one by NGO 'Association for Democratic Reforms', the lead petitioner. RJD MP Manoj Jha and Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra, Congress' K C Venugopal, NCP (SP) leader Supriya Sule, CPI leader D Raja, Samajwadi Party's Harinder Singh Malik, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Arvind Sawant, JMM's Sarfraz Ahmed and Dipankar Bhattacharya of CPI (ML) have also moved the top court, seeking direction for quashing the EC order.
All leaders have challenged the Election Commission's order directing for SIR of electoral rolls in Bihar and sought direction for its quashing.
The INDIA bloc have also taken the fight against the poll panel to the streets. On Wednesday. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday joined RJD's Tejashwi Yadav for "chakka jam" in Bihar over Election Commission's special intensive revision of electoral roll just months ahead of the upcoming assembly elections. Rahul and Tejashwi, along with CPI's D Raja and CPM's Deepankar Bhattacharya led the Grand Alliance march to the chief electoral officer's office. Rahul and other leaders were atop a vehicle during the protest march which started at Income Tax Golambar in Patna.
While addressing the gathering, Tejashwi issued a call for "kranti" (revolution) against BJP and Nitish Kumar's "Godi Aayog."
Addressing the gathering, Rahul claimed that a similar attempt is being made in Bihar, what the poll body did in Maharashtra.
Why the revision?
EC says the special intensive revision (SIR) aims to eliminate duplicate and bogus voters, especially those listed both at permanent and current addresses. EC insists that only residents currently living in an area should be on its voter rolls, in accordance with constitutional norms ensuring that only Indian citizens can vote. The exercise, last conducted in 2003, targets updated enrolment and removal of ineligible entries. Bihar currently has around 7.9 crore registered voters.
Why is EC's revision activity different?
The 2025 SIR in Bihar is different on several counts. While an ‘intensive’ revision mostly involves a ‘de novo’ exercise, drawing up a fresh electoral roll from the scratch, the Bihar SIR is using the 2002-03 electoral roll as a base to build upon. At the same time, it involves a new pre-printed enumeration form included in the usual house-to-house verification format and document submission, associated with an ‘intensive’ revision. It is, also, very different from previous intensive revision exercises in terms of timing.
EC has seldom ordered a full state and full-scale intensive revision in a state 4-6 months ahead of scheduled assembly elections, as is the case with Bihar. Bihar saw its last intensive revision in 2002, a good three years away from the assembly polls held in October 2005.
Similarly, when the EC, on June 29, 2004 announced an intensive roll revision in eight states, it chose to leave out two states which were pending a similar intensive roll revision. These were Arunachal Pradesh & Maharashtra where assembly polls were due in October 2004.
Why not Aadhaar, MGNREGA or ration cards?
EC excludes Aadhaar, ration, and MGNREGA cards as valid proof, citing concerns that illegal immigrants, particularly from Bangladesh, may have acquired them.
Documents accepted eligible voters may submit any of the following:
A partial working day (PWD) bench comprising Justices Sudhanshu Dhulia and Joymalya Bagchi was told by senior advocate Rakesh Dwivedi, appearing for the poll panel, that he has preliminary objections to the petitions.
During the hearing, the top court said that the steps taken by the poll panel to revise the voter list is mandated by the Constitution and last such exercise was undertaken in 2003.
"If you are to check citizenship under SIR of electoral rolls in Bihar, then you should have acted early; it is a bit late," said SC to EC.
Additionally, the top court said, "Why are you getting into the citizenship issue in the special revision of electoral rolls in Bihar? It is the domain of the MHA," the bench asked the poll body.
SC questions EC over citizenship
The apex court raised concerns over the exclusion of Aadhar in the 11 listed documents required to proof citizenship in the state. It questioned EC focus citizenship, noting that such matters fall under the jurisdiction of the home ministry.
"Why are you getting into the citizenship issue in the special revision of electoral rolls in Bihar? It is the domain of the MHA," the bench asked the poll body.
"If you are to check citizenship under the SIR of electoral rolls in Bihar, then you should have acted early; it is a bit late," it added.
Election Commission told the Supreme Court that citizenship is required to be verified to qualify as a voter in India under Article 326 of the Constitution.
Read more: Roll pe Rajneeti: How a list has triggered a full-blown political war in Bihar, and why parties are up in arms against EC
Opposition up in arms
Over 10 petitions have been filed in the SC, including one by NGO 'Association for Democratic Reforms', the lead petitioner. RJD MP Manoj Jha and Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra, Congress' K C Venugopal, NCP (SP) leader Supriya Sule, CPI leader D Raja, Samajwadi Party's Harinder Singh Malik, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Arvind Sawant, JMM's Sarfraz Ahmed and Dipankar Bhattacharya of CPI (ML) have also moved the top court, seeking direction for quashing the EC order.
All leaders have challenged the Election Commission's order directing for SIR of electoral rolls in Bihar and sought direction for its quashing.
The INDIA bloc have also taken the fight against the poll panel to the streets. On Wednesday. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday joined RJD's Tejashwi Yadav for "chakka jam" in Bihar over Election Commission's special intensive revision of electoral roll just months ahead of the upcoming assembly elections. Rahul and Tejashwi, along with CPI's D Raja and CPM's Deepankar Bhattacharya led the Grand Alliance march to the chief electoral officer's office. Rahul and other leaders were atop a vehicle during the protest march which started at Income Tax Golambar in Patna.
While addressing the gathering, Tejashwi issued a call for "kranti" (revolution) against BJP and Nitish Kumar's "Godi Aayog."
Addressing the gathering, Rahul claimed that a similar attempt is being made in Bihar, what the poll body did in Maharashtra.
Why the revision?
EC says the special intensive revision (SIR) aims to eliminate duplicate and bogus voters, especially those listed both at permanent and current addresses. EC insists that only residents currently living in an area should be on its voter rolls, in accordance with constitutional norms ensuring that only Indian citizens can vote. The exercise, last conducted in 2003, targets updated enrolment and removal of ineligible entries. Bihar currently has around 7.9 crore registered voters.
Why is EC's revision activity different?
The 2025 SIR in Bihar is different on several counts. While an ‘intensive’ revision mostly involves a ‘de novo’ exercise, drawing up a fresh electoral roll from the scratch, the Bihar SIR is using the 2002-03 electoral roll as a base to build upon. At the same time, it involves a new pre-printed enumeration form included in the usual house-to-house verification format and document submission, associated with an ‘intensive’ revision. It is, also, very different from previous intensive revision exercises in terms of timing.
EC has seldom ordered a full state and full-scale intensive revision in a state 4-6 months ahead of scheduled assembly elections, as is the case with Bihar. Bihar saw its last intensive revision in 2002, a good three years away from the assembly polls held in October 2005.
Similarly, when the EC, on June 29, 2004 announced an intensive roll revision in eight states, it chose to leave out two states which were pending a similar intensive roll revision. These were Arunachal Pradesh & Maharashtra where assembly polls were due in October 2004.
Why not Aadhaar, MGNREGA or ration cards?
EC excludes Aadhaar, ration, and MGNREGA cards as valid proof, citing concerns that illegal immigrants, particularly from Bangladesh, may have acquired them.
Documents accepted eligible voters may submit any of the following:
- Govt-issued pension order
- Pre1987 official document from any govt or PSU
- Birth certificate
- Passport
- matriculation or other school certificates
- Permanent residence certificate
- Forest rights certificate
- Caste certificate
- NRC (where available)
- Family register from local authorities
- Land or house allotment certificate from govt agencies
You may also like
Salman Khan attends Sangeeta Bijlani's birthday bash in Mumbai
Christian Horner successor makes feelings about axed Red Bull F1 boss very clear
Llangollen Eisteddfod festival 'incident' as multiple kids rushed to hospital
'Micro-drone might hit him': Khamenei's adviser jokes about killing Trump; US President shrugs it off
Ollie Watkins to Arsenal transfer latest as shock bid prepared amid Viktor Gyokeres update
