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Supreme Court to hear pleas against SIR in Bihar, other states on Nov 11

While NGO ADR has sought an urgent hearing of its plea against Bihar’s Special Intensive Revision, the DMK has also pressed for an immediate stay through a separate petition.

3 min readNew DelhiUpdated: Nov 7, 2025 04:16 PM IST

The court, while hearing the ADR petitions, had, however, refused to stay the exercise. (Source: File)

The Supreme Court on Friday agreed to take up on November 11 petitions challenging the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls being carried out in Bihar and other states.

Advocate Prashant Bhushan, representing NGO Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), which has challenged the Bihar SIR, told a bench of Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi that there is “some urgency” as the exercise has started in other states too and urged it to hear the matter early next week. Appearing for the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), advocate Vivek Singh mentioned another petition challenging the SIR and said it seeks an “urgent stay”.

The court said it will hear all together on November 11.

Bhushan said that the Election Commission (EC) was not accepting Aadhaar cards despite the Supreme Court orders asking it to. “The SIR has started…it has assumed some urgency now…in the rest of the country. They said they will accept Aadhaar…they are still not accepting it,” he said, adding that it is a “very urgent issue” that “goes to the root of our democracy”.

The court, while hearing the ADR petitions, had, however, refused to stay the exercise.

On September 8, the Supreme Court directed the EC to accept Aadhaar as a twelfth document, in addition to the 11 it has permitted for identification, in order to be included in the final electoral roll during the Bihar SIR.

The court, however, made it clear that Aadhaar “is not proof of citizenship” and stated that the EC will be entitled to assess its authenticity. “…keeping in view S.23(4) of the RP (Representation of People) Act, Aadhaar card is one document for the purpose of establishing identity of any person…The Aadhaar card…shall be accepted for establishing the identity of any person for inclusion or exclusion in the revised voters list of state of Bihar…The Aadhaar card, in this regard, shall be treated as the 12th document by the authorities. However, it is clarified that the authorities shall be entitled to verify the authenticity and genuineness of the Aadhaar card itself,” the bench had ordered.

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Post publication of the final voter list for Bihar, the EC had begun the process of revising the rolls in nine more states, including Tamil Nadu and three Union Territories.

The DMK plea challenges the decision to carry out the SIR in Tamil Nadu. It said that a Special Summary Revision (SSR) had already been held in the state between October 2024 and January 6, 2025, and the revised roll was published on January 6, 2025. It contends that the exercise in the state lacks any legal basis, amounts to constitutional overreach, and is tantamount to a “de facto National Register of Citizens (NRC)”.