Bihar SIR: Supreme Court seeks EC’s response on deletion of 65 lakh voters in Bihar

The Supreme Court on August 6, asked the Election Commission of India (ECI) to respond to allegations concerning the deletion of over 65 lakh names from Bihar’s electoral roll following a Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise.

The directive came from a bench comprising Justices Surya Kant, Ujjal Bhuyan, and N K Singh, acting on an application filed by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), a non-governmental organisation.

Advocate Prashant Bhushan, representing ADR, urged the court for an urgent hearing. He argued that the ECI had failed to provide the list of names removed from the voters' register, despite claiming that the deletions were due to deaths or migration. “They must disclose who these 65 lakh voters are and on what grounds their names were struck off,” he said.

Bhushan also alleged that many of the deletions were carried out without the required verification or recommendations from Booth Level Officers (BLOs), as mandated. “The BLOs have said that certain deletions were not recommended by them. That data is crucial,” he added.

Justice Surya Kant noted that according to the ECI’s own Standard Operating Procedure (SOP), lists should have been shared with political party representatives at the block level. However, Bhushan countered this by saying that either the information was not provided at all or, if it was, no reasons were given for the deletions.

The ECI's counsel responded that the Commission had made the draft roll public and shared it with political parties. The bench, however, directed the ECI to submit its full response, including details of the parties to whom the draft was supplied.

“If you have indeed provided it, mention the names of the political parties so the petitioner can approach their authorised representatives,” Justice Kant said, granting the Commission time until Saturday to file its reply.

The bench assured that the court would ensure all affected voters receive the necessary information regarding their electoral status.