NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Wednesday said that the electoral rolls cannot be static, noting that a one-time exercise is only for the preparation of the list, but there has to be a revision exercise as well. The observation came while hearing a batch of petitions challenging the validity of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in Bihar.
Gopal Sankaranarayanan, senior lawyer for one of the petitioners, told the top court that the ECI had surprisingly invented a new document requirement for 8 crore voters.
"Even if I'm in jail, I can't be removed from the roll without due process. Here, the 65 lakh removed voters were not disqualified on any such grounds. The ECI has carried out mass exclusions. Who gave the ECI authority to do this?" he argued.
After hearing these submissions, a bench headed by Justice Surya Kant said, "But the electoral list cannot remain static. A one-time exercise is only for preparing the original list and it must be revised."
Sankaranarayanan further added that the ECI has begun the process in West Bengal too, without any consultation. "I appear for the State and for main petitioner ADR. Four constitutional provisions on electoral rolls haven't been addressed yet. The right to be on the roll is sacrosanct," he contended.
"The Constitution guarantees my right to be registered as a voter," he added.
To this, the apex court observed that the expansion of the number of documents by the ECI is a "voter-friendly" and not "anti-voter" exercise.
In response, the apex court said that the ECI’s decision to permit 11 documents as proof of identity for the latest SIR in Bihar, compared to only seven documents in the summary revision of electoral rolls carried out in Jharkhand, showed that the process was “in fact voter-friendly.”
“They are expanding the number of documents of identity. We understand your exclusionary argument may be with regard to Aadhaar, but the expansion of documents from what was followed in a summary revision to an intensive revision is, in fact, voter-friendly and not exclusionary. It gives voters more options. From seven, there are now 11 documents,” the bench, also comprising Justice Joymalya Bagchi, observed.
The arguments of the petitioners were inconclusive on Wednesday and will continue on Thursday before the same bench. The court noted that despite the petitioners' claims that non-acceptance of Aadhaar was exclusionary, the large number of documents appeared "actually inclusionary".
Prashant Bhushan, lawyer for one of the petitioners, alleged malafide intent on the part of the ECI. He opposed similar exercises previously by the Commission, which, he said, refused Aadhaar, ration cards, or EPIC as proof to publish names of deleted voters with reasons, and removed searchable draft rolls just one day after Rahul Gandhi's press conference on Karnataka elections.
Hearing this, the court refused to entertain his submissions, saying it was not aware of any such press conference.
The top court was hearing the pleas filed by NGO-ADR, People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), Yogendra Yadav, Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra, Rashtriya Janata Dal MP Manoj Jha, Congress leader K C Venugopal and Mujahid Alam. The petitioners sought a direction to set aside the ECI’s SIR order of June 24, 2025.
"Issue a writ, order or direction setting aside Order and Communication dated 24.06.2025 and accompanying guidelines issued by 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," the ADR plea stated.
"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," ADR argued.
Defending the Bihar SIR exercise, the Election Commission of India (ECI), through senior advocate Rakesh Dwivedi, said such an exercise 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 told the top court.
Earlier, the ECI urged the SC to dismiss the batch of pleas in the Bihar SIR matter, clarifying that such electors would be afforded a reasonable opportunity of being heard and furnishing relevant documents.
On July 28, the Supreme Court refused to stay the EC from publishing the draft voters list on August 1, 2025, after the SIR exercise in Bihar. It also reiterated that the EC should consider including Aadhaar and Voter ID cards to ensure statutory correctness.
Earlier, on July 10, a two-judge vacation bench of the apex court refused to stay the Bihar voter list revision and 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 July 10 direction came after the court heard a batch of petitions challenging the ECI's decision to undertake the SIR of electoral rolls in poll-bound Bihar.
