Bihar SIR row: SC agrees to consider extension of time on Monday

The Supreme Court on Friday agreed take up on September 1 petitions to consider pleas seeking an extension of the deadline for filing claims and objections related to the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls in poll-bound Bihar.

The matter was mentioned before a Bench of Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi by advocate Prashant Bhushan, who said that the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and the AIMIM have filed applications for extension of the September 1 deadline to file objections to the draft voters list and claims for inclusion by those excluded.

As the Bench asked why the petitioners did not request the Election Commission (EC) for an extension of time, Bhushan said they had already done so.

"Since the last order of this court dated August 22, 2025, which permitted the filing of claims along with Aadhaar card, the number of claims have doubled from 84,305 on August 22, to 1,78,948 electors on August 27 in only five days," the RJD said in its plea seeking extension of the September 1 deadline by two weeks.

However, the party alleged across districts that in many instances, officers refused to accept the claims with the Aadhaar card only and instead insisted on one of the 11 documents mentioned in the ECI order of June 24 in "utter disregard to the orders passed by the court".

Seeking extension of timeline to file claims and objections by excluded electors by four weeks, the AIMIM said the EC data indicates the court's orders have increased awareness among electors about their exclusion in the draft list and the participation by political parties has led to a larger number of claims and objections being filed in the last one week.

"It is clear that over the course of 22 days, i.e., August 1 to August 22, 84,307 claims and objections were filed by the electors directly or through the BLAs of 12 political parties which registered in the state of Bihar. However, after the order dated August 22, 2025, of this court and over the course of a mere five days i.e., till August 27, 94,694 claims and objections have been filed by the electors directly or through the BLAs of 12 political parties," the AIMIM submitted.

The top court had on August 22 directed the EC to accept online applications, supported by requisite documents or an Aadhaar number, from those excluded from the draft electoral rolls during the ongoing SIR in Bihar.

Asking the political parties to assist those excluded from the draft electoral roll and file status reports on the claim form they facilitated in filing by excluded voters, the Bench had posted the matter for further hearing on September 8.

While hearing petitions challenging the June 24 EC notification on SIR of electoral rolls in Bihar, the Bench had expressed surprise that Bihar has over 1.68 Lakh Booth Level Agents (BLAs) of political parties but only two objections were filed as informed by the Election Commission.

“We are surprised at the inaction of political parties. After appointing BLAs, what are they doing? Why this distance between political workers and the local people?” it had wondered even as petitioners complained that BLAs were not being permitted to submit their objections.

The Bench had issued notices to 12 registered political parties and formally made them parties to the case and asked 12 recognized political parties to issue specific instructions to their BLAs to assist voters, except those dead, in submitting the requisite form along with documents to get their names back on voters’ list.

On August 1, the EC came out with the ‘draft electoral rolls’ in Bihar, enlisting 7.24 crore voters. The final electoral roll will be out on September 30, 2025. Of the total 65 lakh voters removed from the draft electoral rolls, 22.34 lakh were dead and 36.28 lakh had permanently shifted or were absent while 7.01 lakh voters were enrolled at more than one places, the EC said.

The Election Commission claimed that roughly 6.5 crore people of the total 7.9 crore voting population didn’t have to file any documents for them or their parents who featured in the 2003 electoral rolls.

However, the petitioners, including the Association for Democratic Reforms, expressed the apprehension that a large number of voters will be disenfranchised.

On August 14, the Supreme Court had asked the Election Commission to publish details of 65 lakh deleted names from voters’ list and give reasons for their non-inclusion to enhance transparency in the SIR exercise in Bihar where assembly elections are to be held in October-November 2025.