Supreme Court to hear pleas challenging Bihar electoral rolls revision on July 10
Petitions challenging the revision of the electoral rolls in Bihar have been filed by RJD MP Manoj Jha, Association for Democratic Reforms, People’s Union for Civil Liberties, activist Yogendra Yadav, and Lok Sabha MP Mahua Moitra.
The EC exercise is meant to update voter lists by verifying existing entries and adding new voters months ahead of elections.
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The Supreme Court said on Monday that it will take up a clutch of petitions challenging the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls ordered by the Election Commission of India in poll-bound Bihar on July 10.
The petitions were mentioned before a bench of Justices Sudhanshu Dhulia and Joymalya Bagchi by senior advocates Kapil Sibal, A M Singhvi, Gopal Sankaranarayanan, and Shadan Farasat. They urged the court to list it for an urgent hearing.
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Appearing for one of the petitioners, Sibal termed it an “impossible task.” “Eight crore is the electorate and four crore have to do the enumeration,” said Singhvi, who also appeared for another petitioner.
The petitioners argued that those who do not furnish the requisite documents within the allotted time would be deleted from the rolls irrespective of whether they have voted earlier. Singhvi said, “The timeline is so strict, and by July 25 if you don’t give, you will be out”.
Justice Dhulia, however, pointed out that the timeline “doesn’t have sanctity as elections have not been notified as yet.”
Petitions challenging the revision have been filed by RJD MP Manoj Jha, the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), the People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), activist Yogendra Yadav, and Lok Sabha MP Mahua Moitra.
In its plea, ADR said, “The SIR order dated 24.06.2025, 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.”
“The documentation requirements of the directive, lack of due process as well as the unreasonably short timeline for the … revision… further make this exercise bound to result in the removal of names of lakhs of genuine voters from electoral rolls, leading to their disenfranchisement.”
Ananthakrishnan G. is a Senior Assistant Editor with The Indian Express. He has been in the field for over 23 years, kicking off his journalism career as a freelancer in the late nineties with bylines in The Hindu. A graduate in law, he practised in the District judiciary in Kerala for about two years before switching to journalism. His first permanent assignment was with The Press Trust of India in Delhi where he was assigned to cover the lower courts and various commissions of inquiry.
He reported from the Delhi High Court and the Supreme Court of India during his first stint with The Indian Express in 2005-2006. Currently, in his second stint with The Indian Express, he reports from the Supreme Court and writes on topics related to law and the administration of justice. Legal reporting is his forte though he has extensive experience in political and community reporting too, having spent a decade as Kerala state correspondent, The Times of India and The Telegraph. He is a stickler for facts and has several impactful stories to his credit. ... Read More