On August 6, the Supreme Court directed the Election Commission of India (ECI) to file its response by Saturday on allegations concerning the deletion of 65 lakh names from Bihar’s draft electoral roll published following the Special Intensive Revision (SIR). The Court specifically asked the ECI to clarify whether the draft list, released on August 1, was shared with political parties prior to publication.
The direction came in response to an application by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), which alleged that the ECI failed to disclose the identities of the 65 lakh voters removed from the rolls or explain whether they were deceased or had migrated. Advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for ADR, submitted that the voter lists were not shared at the block level and questioned whether the deletions and additions had the approval of the Booth Level Officers.