Overview

• Excluded voters may now file inclusion claims online using Aadhaar or any of the 11 documents accepted under the Special Intensive Revision, the bench of Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi ruled.
• Recognised political parties were impleaded and directed to mobilise their booth-level agents to help file claims, with acknowledgement receipts for forms submitted by BLAs and status reports due by September 8.
• The court declined to change the SIR calendar and kept the September 1 claims deadline, saying the Election Commission can consider an extension if responses are overwhelming.
• In a compliance affidavit, the Election Commission said it has published booth-wise lists of roughly 65 lakh omitted electors with reasons on all 38 district websites and displayed physical copies at local offices, backed by a publicity drive.
• The revision reduced Bihar’s rolls to about 7.24 crore from roughly 7.9 crore; petitions from ADR, PUCL and political leaders challenge the exercise even as the EC reports around 85,000 claims by excluded voters and over 2 lakh new registrations.