Bihar SIR: Claims even after September 1, says EC; Supreme Court flags ‘trust issues’

Responding to an application from the RJD, which sought two more weeks to file claims and objections, the EC told a bench of Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi that “the filing of claims or objections or corrections is not barred after” September 1.

“These can be submitted even after the deadline. The applications submitted for claims, objections or corrections after 01.09.2025 will be considered after the electoral roll has been finalised. The process of consideration of claims and objections continues until the last date of nominations, and all inclusions and exclusions are integrated in the final roll,” the EC said in a note.

Taking the submission on record, the Supreme Court stated in its order: “In light of this stand, let the claims/ objections/ corrections be continued to be filed. Meanwhile, political parties/ petitioners may submit their affidavits in response to the note.”

The bench also directed the executive chairman of the Bihar State Legal Services Authority to issue instructions to all District Legal Services Authorities to depute or notify paralegal volunteers, along with their names and mobile numbers, who will assist individual voters and political parties for the online submission of claims, objections or corrections. This has to be done before Tuesday noon, the bench stated.

The court said that the confidential reports to be submitted thereafter by the volunteers to the district judge concerned may be collated at the level of the State Legal Services Authority.

The court’s order came on a day when the EC said in a press release that it had received 36,475 claims for inclusion and 2.17 lakh objections for exclusion of names as of September 1 (10 am). In addition, the EC said 16.56 lakh enrolment forms had been received from new electors who had turned 18. A total of 119 objections have been filed by Booth Level Agents (BLAs) of political parties, including 16 filed by the BJP for deletion of names, the EC said in the release.

In the Supreme Court, meanwhile, Senior Advocate Rakesh Dwivedi, who appeared for the EC, referred to its note and said that “according to the records, approximately 99.5% of the electors (out of 7.24 crore) featured in the Draft Electoral Roll…have already submitted their eligibility documents pertaining to the SIR exercise”.

“The exercise of verification of these documents is currently ongoing, and is scheduled to be completed by 25.09.2025, in accordance with the schedule provided in the SIR order dated 24.06.2025,” he said.

The EC submitted that the RJD had so far filed only 10 claims through its valid BLAs. The CPI-ML, it said, has submitted 15 claims for inclusion and 103 objections for exclusion as of August 31 (10 am).

Apart from these two parties, “none of the other recognised political parties have, either through their office bearers or validly appointed BLAs, assisted any elector out of the approximately 65 lakh whose names are not included in the Draft Electoral Roll to submit Form 6 with Declaration. None of the other recognised political parties have enabled filing of claims or objections in the prescribed format.”

The EC’s note stated that as on August 31, “an overwhelming majority of forms received from both political parties and individuals are for exclusion of names which are featured in the Draft Electoral Roll”. “Of the total 128 forms received on the draft rolls from political parties, 103 are for deletion (Form 7) and only 25 are for inclusion (Form 6). This number represents a minuscule fraction of the total number of electors of Bihar,” the EC said.

Dwivedi added that “although the individual electors have demonstrated more alertness and proactiveness, they too have submitted only 33,326 forms for inclusion in the draft roll and 2,07,565 forms for deletion…… With respect to new eligible citizens attaining the age of 18 years or more, a total of 15,32,438 applications for first-time inclusion in the electoral roll have been received.”

The EC said that “as regards the approximately 65 lakh names which are not included in the Draft Electoral Roll on account of death, permanent shifting, or duplication, only…33,351 claims have been submitted.” It added that following the apex court’s order on August 22, only 22,723 claims have been filed for inclusion and 1,34,738 objections for exclusion till August 30.

Opposing the RJD’s plea, the EC submitted: “The timelines have been fixed according to the rules, and a maximum time of 30 days has been provided for filing claims and objections. The period between September 1-25 is fixed for considering claims and objections, and the same also involves the consideration of issuing notices and responses to doubtful cases. Thus, any extension of timelines will lead to disruption of the exercise and finalisation of electoral roll.”

Appearing for RJD, Advocate Shoeb Alam said it has been only a week since the court on August 22 directed EC to accept Aadhaar also with claims and objections. Citing the increasing number of claims filed since then, the counsel urged the court to extend the time provided.

Advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for NGO Association for Democratic Rights (ADR), pointed out that there were also floods in Bihar due to which people are not able to filed their forms. “But the more serious problem really is with the lack of transparency. They are not following their own manual. I don’t know what is my form which has been uploaded by them or received by them,” he said.

Justice Kant said that what is really bothering the court is that despite its order asking political parties to direct their BLAs to help those who want to file claims or objections, there are still only a few hundred submissions.

Bhushan contended that this was because people have to file Form 6, which includes a declaration that their name was not on the earlier list. Objecting, Dwivedi said that “33000 electors have filed Form 6. They don’t have a problem. Only ADR, which has nothing to do with Bihar, has a problem.” The EC’s counsel argued that the “problem is with the mindset…which is to disrupt (the SIR).”

When Bhushan referred to EC submission that names of those submitting after September 1 would be considered only after the list is finalised, Justice Kant said, “The reason is obvious. Suppose somebody submits on September 29. Then it is not expected that within hours, they will mechanically accept or reject it.”