NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Thursday directed the Election Commission to upload the list of 65 lakh deleted voters, along with reasons like death or migration during the special intensive revision in Bihar.
The top court reasoned if the poll body is pasting all the names on signboards, then why it can't have these names along with reasons on website.
A bench of Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi also said the deleted person should get an opportunity to make an appeal and the information on website should be in searchable format by the EPIC number.
The court also directed the poll panel to give it wide publicity that among the list of 11 documents, Aadhaar card can also be furnished by the electors and the EC's notice may say those who have not submitted so far, may furnish Aadhaar, as it is an important identity proof.
The bench said, "A fundamental right to know why they are being deleted requires widest possible publicity...in situations where everything being uploaded and publicity through electronic means particularly to migrant people who are perhaps not staying in Bihar or local area".
Taking up a batch of petitions, challenging the validity of SIR initiated in June this year, the court emphasised it is essential to keep the information in the public domain.
Senior advocate Rakesh Dwivedi, appearing for the Election Commission, said there has been tremendous publicity.
“We do not want citizens to be dependent on political parties’ workers,” the bench said, as the EC has maintained the list was being shared with political parties.
“It is a fact there are certain departures as you may agree from the statutory rules, from the SOP itself…degree of transparency would help to create voter confidence and voter accessible,” the bench told EC's counsel.
The bench also asked the EC why it cannot take the additional step of putting it up on the website, clearly identifying the list of persons who are not there and the reason for their deletion, so that they can within 30 days take the remedial measures, preferable at district electoral officer (regarding the website) or at sub divisional level.
Dwivedi said at the block level, district level, and the state level, it has been done and the EC cannot use the state government website for putting up the list of people.
The court, however, said, the state election commission can upload it on its website.
The court made it clear to the poll body that if it is already pasting all names on the signboards then uploading the same information on a website would not be an issue.
The bench said the names of 65 lakh people removed from the voter list must be uploaded on the poll body website along with the reason for deletion.
The court said that the EC has said 22 lakh people out of the 65 lakh names have been struck off the list, as they have died.
"If 22 lakh people have died, why is it not disclosed at the booth level," the court asked.
The court also said search tool would make it easy for voters to find their names.
The court said the list of 65 lakhs voters whose names appeared in 2025 list but are not included in the draft list shall be displayed on the district level websites and aggrieved persons may submit their claims along with a copy of their Aadhaar cards.
The bench also said that the list must also mention the reason for deletion from the draft roll. The bench said the district election officer, if they have a social media handle, would display the notice there as well.
The bench said wide publicity should be given in vernacular language newspapers which have maximum circulation and it must be broadcast and telecast on Doordarshan and other channels.
The bench said the booth-wise list of 65 lakh voters should also be displayed on the noticeboard of all the panchayat bhawans and the block development and panchayat offices.
The bench directed the poll body to publish the list of 65 lakh voters, should be displayed on district electoral officer booth wise and also it can be accessed through EPIC number.
The court fixed a batch of petitions challenging the validity of SIR exercise in poll bound Bihar for consideration next Friday, August 22.
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