The Supreme Court on Friday agreed to begin hearing on November 11 the petitions challenging the Election Commission’s (EC) decision to carry out a Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls across the country.
A bench comprising Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi said it would take up the matter from November 11 onwards, even though several significant cases are listed for that period. The assurance came after advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), stressed that the issue “goes to the root of democracy”.
Bhushan highlighted the urgency, noting that the SIR process has already commenced in multiple states. The bench said it would try to adjust the schedule of other cases to accommodate the hearing of the pleas concerning the SIR exercise.
The Supreme Court is already dealing with petitions challenging the validity of the SIR conducted in Bihar, where political parties and civil society groups have alleged large-scale voter deletions, particularly among minorities.
In its October 16 submission before the top court, the Election Commission described the Bihar SIR as “accurate”, asserting that the petitioners were making “false allegations” to undermine the process. It further claimed that no voter had filed an appeal against name deletion since the publication of the final roll.
The EC also rejected allegations of disproportionate exclusion of Muslims from the final electoral list, maintaining that the revisions were based on legitimate factors such as deaths, migration, and duplicate entries.
According to the EC’s data, the final electoral roll in Bihar, published on September 30, recorded 7.42 crore electors, down from 7.89 crore before the SIR — a reduction of nearly 47 lakh voters.
However, compared with the draft list issued on August 1 — which had removed 65 lakh names — the final tally reflected a net increase of 17.87 lakh voters after adding 21.53 lakh new electors and deleting another 3.66 lakh names.
The issue gains added weight as Bihar’s Assembly elections are underway. The first phase, covering 121 of the 243 constituencies, concluded on Thursday, and the second phase for the remaining 122 seats will be held on November 11, with counting scheduled for November 14.
