Supreme Court to Hear Petitions Challenging SIR in Bihar

The Supreme Court will hear a group of petitions tomorrow challenging the Election Commission’s decision to carry out a special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar. A bench of Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi is expected to take up the case. The Election Commission says the revision is aimed at ensuring clean voter rolls by removing ineligible names. It claims the process involved major political parties and over 1.5 lakh booth-level agents.
 
However, the petitioners argue the move could lead to large-scale voter disenfranchisement just ahead of the 2025 Bihar Assembly elections.  They say, there was no reason for the ECI to resort to “drastic exercise” of electoral rolls revision in a poll-bound state in such a short period.
 
In an earlier hearing, the court asked the poll body to consider accepting documents like Aadhaar, Voter ID, and Ration Cards for verification. On July 10, the court framed three key issues: the EC’s power to order SIR, the legality of its process, and the timing of the revision before elections.