Bihar SIR: ECI files affidavit in SC, says list of 65 lakh dropped voters published on official sites

NEW DELHI: The Election Commission has filed affidavit in the Supreme Court saying the list of names and details of 65 lakh electors in Bihar who were not included in the draft roll published on August 1 had been posted on the websites of all 38 District Electoral Officers in the state.

The list also contained the reasons for their non-inclusion, including death, shifting of ordinary residence or duplicate entries, ECI told Supreme Court. The ECI said physical copies of the list have been displayed in Panchayat Bhavans, block development offices and Panchayat offices in villages across Bihar for people to easily access them and enable enquiry.

Advertisements about the online availability of the lists had also been issued in major newspapers, on radio and television and posted on social media, said poll panel.

The ECI filed the affidavit in compliance of August 14 directions of the Supreme Court directing it to publish an enumerated, booth-wise list of approximately 65 lakh electors not included in the draft electoral roll during the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise in poll-bound Bihar.

The ECI also informed the apex court that its public notices have expressly mentioned that copies of Aadhaar cards can be submitted along with their claims by voters aggrieved by non-inclusion in the draft Bihar electoral roll. The top court was informed that approximately 65 lakh names were dropped from the draft roll despite the fact that their names had featured in the voters’ list prepared after a summary revision in January 2025.

A bench of Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi will resume the hearing on a batch of petitions challenging poll panel’s move to conduct Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar. The petitions challenging the ECI decision were filed by RJD MP Manoj Jha, the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), PUCL, activist Yogendra Yadav, Trinamool MP Mahua Moitra, and former Bihar MLA Mujahid Alam.

The petitions sought direction to quash the ECI’s June 24 directive that requires large sections of voters in Bihar to submit proof of citizenship to remain on the electoral rolls. The petitions also raised concerns over the exclusion of widely held documents like Aadhaar and ration cards, stating that this would disproportionately affect the poor and marginalised voters, especially in rural Bihar. (ANI)