Supreme Court / On Bihar SIR, SC said- make public the list of 65 lakh people removed

Supreme Court: Recently, a hearing was held in the Supreme Court regarding the matter of voter list revision (Special Intensive Revision - SIR) in Bihar. In this hearing, the Supreme Court asked the Election Commission to make public the data of deletion of 65 lakh voters. The court emphasized on transparency and accountability in this process, so that the voting rights of citizens can be ensured.

Comments of the Supreme Court

The Supreme Court raised many important questions to the Election Commission. The bench headed by Justice Suryakant emphasized the following points:

Need for transparency: The court said that the data of deletion of 65 lakh voters should be made public. In this, the names of the removed persons, EPIC number, Aadhaar number (if recorded), and the reason for removal should be clearly made available on the website.

Dispute of dead and living persons: The court drew attention to the serious dispute regarding dead and living persons in the draft voter list. The court asked what arrangement the Election Commission has so that families can know that their member has been marked as deceased.

Citizens' rights: Justice Kant said that the rights of citizens, which are linked to the Constitution and law, should not depend on local political parties or their workers. The court suggested that the process be made more transparent and accessible.

2003 voter list: The court sought details of the documents used in the 2003 Bihar voter list revision, to understand what criteria were adopted in the process at that time.

Timeline: Justice Bagchi suggested that the list of deleted voters be uploaded on the website within 48 hours.

The court also mentioned that there are 7.89 crore voters in Bihar, out of which 7.24 crore have filled the forms and 65 lakh have been deleted, including 22 lakh deceased. The court called this figure very large and questioned its transparency.

Election Commission's response

The Election Commission made the following points while responding to the court's questions:

Consent to make data public: The Commission said that it will make the list of deleted voters available on the website at the assembly constituency and district level in compliance with the court's order. It will include name, EPIC number, and reason for deletion.

Identification of the dead: The Commission said that to identify the dead, officials will go door-to-door with volunteers and do verification. Apart from this, the number of booths has been increased and information of BLOs (Booth Level Officers) is available on the website.

Online verification: The Commission said that information of the left out persons is available on the website. Any person can check whether he has filled the counting form or not by entering the name and EPIC number.

Legal scope: Commission's counsel Rakesh Dwivedi said that the Commission has wide powers under Article 324, Section 15, and Section 21 (2) and 21 (3). He also argued that the SIR process is as per the rules and regulations, and considering 2003 as the cutoff date is inclusive.

Petitioners' side

Petitioners' counsel Nizam Pasha told the court that if the cutoff date of January 1, 2003 is removed, the entire process may be affected. He demanded transparency and fairness in the process.

Opposition uproar

The opposition has alleged that this amendment process may deprive lakhs of voters of their franchise. The draft voter list was published on August 1, 2025, and the final list is scheduled to be released on September 30, 2025. The opposition has been continuously protesting on this issue.