NEW DELHI: NGO, Association for Democratic Reforms has filed a plea in the Supreme Court, for striking down the Election Commission's direction of June 24 for a special intensive revision (SIR), of electoral rolls in Bihar, scheduled to go for polls in November, this year.
On June 24, the Election Commission of India had issued instructions to carry out an SIR in Bihar, apparently to weed out ineligible names and ensure only eligible citizens are included in the electoral roll.
The plea claimed as per estimates over 3 crore voters and more particularly from marginalized communities (such as SC, STs and migrant workers) could be deprived of their voting rights due to the stringent requirements as mentioned in the SIR order.
It claimed that the EC's order was in violation of Articles 14, 19, 21, 325 and 326 of the Constitution, as well as provisions of Representation of People’s Act, 1950 and Rule 21A of the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960.
“The SIR order dated June 24, 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 basic structure of the Constitution," the plea, filed through advocate Prashant Bhushan contended.
The documentation requirements of the directive, lack of due process as well as the unreasonably short timeline for the said SIR of electoral roll in Bihar further make this exercise bound to result in removal of names of lakhs of genuine voters from electoral rolls leading to their disenfranchisement, it stated.
“That the order dated June 24, issued by ECI has shifted the onus of being on the voters’ list from the state to citizens. It has excluded identification documents such as Aadhar or ration cards which further make marginalised communities and the poor more vulnerable to exclusion from voting,” the plea said.
The NGO contended that declaration as required under the SIR process is violative of Article 326 in so far as it requires a voter to provide documents to prove his/her citizenship and also citizenships of his/her mother or father, failing which his/her name would not be added to the draft electoral roll and can be deleted from the same.
It furth t claimed that ECI has issued unreasonable and impractical timeline to conduct SIR in Bihar with close proximity to state elections which are due in November 2025. “There are lakhs of citizens (whose names did not appear in 2003 ER) who do not possess the documents as required under the SIR order, there are many who may be able to procure the documents but the short timeline mentioned in directive may preclude them from being able to supply the same within the time period,” the plea added.
The plea said that since 2003, five general elections and five assembly elections have taken place in Bihar with continuous addition and deletion of names in Bihar’s electoral roll.
“The manner in which ECI has directed the conduct of SIR is illegal, arbitrary, and has raised questions from all stakeholders, particularly the voters. Moreover, special summary revision (SSR) was already conducted between October 29, 2024, and January 6, 2025, which addressed issues such as migration and ineligible voters due to death or other reasons," the plea said.
Thus, it contended, there is no reason for such a drastic exercise in a poll bound state in such a short period of time, violating the right to vote of lakhs of voters.
