The Supreme Court on September 1, 2025, refused to extend the deadline for Bihar’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls but permitted claims and objections to continue until final publication. Hearing petitions by ADR and others, a Bench of Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi considered concerns over transparency, late release of lists, and flood-related hardships faced by voters.
Petitioners, represented by Senior Advocates including Kapil Sibal and Abhishek Manu Singhvi, alleged poor publicity of instructions and restrictive insistence on Form 6.
The Election Commission, represented by Senior Advocate K.K. Venugopal and Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, defended the process, stating 99.5% of Bihar’s 7.24 crore voters had submitted documents and that multiple ID proofs were being accepted.
The Court stressed adherence to ECI’s own guidelines, noted Aadhaar’s limited statutory role, and directed Bihar Legal Services to deploy volunteers to assist voters. The matter will be heard again on September 8, 2025.
Appearances:
For the Petitioners: Prashant Bhushan, Nizam Pasha, Shoeb Alam, Sr. Advs. Kapil Sibal, Abhishek Manu Singhvi, Gopal Sankaranarayanan, and others
For the Respondents (ECI): Sr. Adv. Rakesh Dwivedi, Senior Advocate K.K. Venugopal, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta