The Supreme Court on Thursday said it expects the Election Commission of India (ECI) to take responsibility for typographical errors and other mistakes in Bihar’s final electoral roll prepared after the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise, and to come up with remedial measures.
A bench of Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi made the observation while scheduling the next hearing on November 4, when it will examine the legal questions surrounding the SIR exercise conducted in the poll-bound state.
During the hearing, the Election Commission informed the court that since the publication of the final electoral roll on September 30, not a single appeal has been filed by any voter against deletion of names.
The Commission said the exercise was conducted as per law, and the current figures reflect deaths, migration, and removal of duplicate names.
Advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR), contested the Commission’s position. He pointed out that the details of a voter whose name was allegedly not included in the final list—dismissed earlier by the EC as fake—were actually true.
Bhushan urged the court to direct the Commission to disclose how many voters were deleted and for what reasons, arguing that transparency in the revision process is essential to maintain trust in the electoral system.
The bench noted that the electoral roll will be freezed on October 17 in constituencies going to polls in the first phase, and on October 20 for those voting in the second phase.
The court also recalled that on October 7, it had asked the EC to provide details of the 3.66 lakh voters who were part of the draft list but excluded from the final roll, observing that there appeared to be “confusion” over the matter.
On September 30, the EC had published the final electoral roll, showing a significant decrease in the total number of voters. The figure dropped by nearly 47 lakh, from 7.89 crore before the SIR exercise to 7.42 crore in the final roll.
The draft list issued on August 1 had already removed 65 lakh voters, while adding 21.53 lakh new electors, resulting in a net reduction. After further revisions, the final figure increased by 17.87 lakh compared to the draft list, but remained much lower than the original.
Bihar will hold Assembly elections in two phases:
- November 6 for 121 constituencies
- November 11 for the remaining 122 constituencies
Counting of votes is scheduled for November 14.
