The Supreme Court on Tuesday stated “errors” might have taken place in the preparation of the draft Bihar electoral roll and indicated Election Commission of India’s desire to fix them while petitioners advised the court of its pledge to action in if the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) caused “mass exemption” of electors from the initial citizens’ list released on August 1.
Appearing before a Bench of Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi on the very first day of hearing the difficulty to the Bihar SIR, senior supporter Gopal Sankaranaryanan stated, “My Lords guaranteed you would action in if there was a mass exemption. This has actually occurred! Sixty-five lakh individuals have actually been omitted”.
Senior supporter Rakesh Dwivedi, standing for the Election Commission of India (ECI), stated mistakes were bound to happen “occasionally”. “This is a draft roll. It can be fixed by the Booth Level Officers,” he reasoned.
Senior supporter Kapil Sibal, who led the petitioners’ side, stated “in a little constituency, 12 individuals overlooked as dead were discovered alive”.
Dwivedi stated the petitioners were more eager to be an “blockage” and enjoy speculation.
Justice Kant asked Sibal whether the petitioners desired a “roving questions”, and on whose wish.
“If there are individuals truly aggrieved, please offer a list of their names to us. We will do something about it,” Justice Kant dealt with Sibal.
Sibal stated a majority of the population of Bihar were bad. They would have none of the files looked for by the ECI for confirmation of citizenship to be consisted of in the electoral roll.
Senior supporter AM Singhvi, likewise for the petitioners, sent that numerous records would have been lost due to floods or migration or other factors. The majority of the population of Bihar does not have their files in a digital kind.
“Determination of citizenship is not the function of ECI. If crores of individuals in Bihar are currently on the electoral roll, the survey body can not inquire to produce files to show their citizenship once again. This totals up to presumptive exemption,” Mr. Singhvi argued.
Sibal sent that just 3.05 percent of individuals in Bihar had birth certificates, among the 11 ‘a sign’ files needed by the ECI.
Justice Kant dismissed the submission, stating, “Bihar is a part of India. If individuals in Bihar do not have these files, other States would likewise not have … These are files that reveal an individual is an authentic homeowner of a State. When you reveal the files, the concern will move to the ECI, Justice Kant observed. The judge prompted Sibal not to make “sweeping declarations”.
Justice Kant even more stated 87 percent of Bihar had Aadhaar and the Electors Photo Identity Cards (EPIC). They might be utilized as evidence, though not definitive, of citizenship. The court stated those who belonged to the Bihar electoral roll in 2003, when the previous extensive modification took place, need not produce files to be consisted of in the present draft roll.
“On a conservative price quote, 6.5 crore electors require not produce any files as they are currently in the 2003 electoral roll,” Dwivedi cracked in.
Justice Kant did ask about the requirement for an SIR now, when a summary modification of the Bihar electoral roll had actually taken place as just recently as January 2025.
Activist Yogendra Yadav, who appeared face to face, stated SIR throughout the world has actually been discovered to be counter-productive. He stated whenever the onus to be consisted of in the electoral roll moved from the state to the residents, a quarter of the population, mainly the limited and the bad, tend to get left out.
Yadav stated the existing SIR and the 2003 extensive modification in the Bihar citizens’ list might not be compared. The latter occurred at a time when computer systems were presented in the election procedure.
“Records were being computerised. Hard copies were provided to officers, who were asked to go from home to house to confirm. The requirement to fill the enumeration kinds and this anticipation of exemption now are distinct … The Bihar SIR might be the biggest disenfranchisement not just in the history of India, however of the world, in any democracy. This is not a problem of modification, however a tectonic shift in the concern to the citizens,” he stated.
Supporter Prashant Bhushan sent that the ECI has the specific variety of individuals erased from the draft roll and the factors – death, traceability, duplication and completely moved the State – for their exemption. They are not sharing the information. Lots of enumeration types of erased individuals revealed ‘BLOs have actually not suggested’ their names in the citizens’ list without offering any additional factor.
Released on August 12, 2025
