 Summary of this article
- The SC questioned the ECI over confusion in Bihar’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.
- Petitioners argued that voters were removed without notice or reason, making appeals impossible.
- The Court asked the ECI to provide basic responses by October 9, 2025, with a detailed hearing set for October 14
The Supreme Court on October 7 heard pleas challenging the Election Commission of India’s (ECI) Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar, following the release of the final electoral rolls on September 30.
The final list includes nearly 7.42 crore names, with over 21 lakh new inclusions and 3.66 lakh exclusions. The Court adjourned the hearing and scheduled the next session on October 9, 2025, from 3.30 pm to 4 pm, for the ECI to respond to the allegations. A detailed hearing has been scheduled for October 14.
A Bench of Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi raised concerns over confusion regarding whether the newly added names in the final list were those whose names were deleted earlier from the draft list, or whether they were entirely new additions. Justice Bagchi observed, “Final list appears to be an appreciation of numbers... There is confusion in the democratic process about whether the additions are re-inclusions or entirely new names.” |
