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Supreme Court Probes Bihar Voter Roll Revision and Warns of Nullification if Illegality Found

The top court pressed the Election Commission on deletion procedures and opaque data access with a warning that the revision could be nullified to safeguard voters’ rights.

Women voters stand in queue
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The Supreme Court also said that the EC had residual power to conduct an exercise like the SIR as it deemed fit.

Overview

  • The bench described the dispute as a trust deficit after noting that 7.24 crore electors submitted forms in the SIR, challenging theories of massive disenfranchisement.
  • Petitioners alleged around 65 lakh names were dropped without notice or reasoned orders and that the ECI’s switch to scanned draft rolls has hindered public scrutiny.
  • The Election Commission defended its authority under Article 324 and Section 21(3) of the Representation of the People Act and maintained it need not publish separate lists of deletions.
  • Justices noted the expansion of acceptable proofs from seven to eleven documents as a voter-friendly measure but upheld that Aadhaar and voter cards cannot alone establish citizenship.
  • The court warned it could set aside the entire revision if evidence of mass exclusion or ultra vires action emerges, with hearings ongoing and a final voters list due September 30.