Deadline over, but can still file Bihar SIR claims, EC tells SC

Amid demands from opposition political parties for extension of time for filing claims and objections with regard to the special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in poll-bound Bihar, the Election Commission on Monday told the Supreme Court that it could be done even after the September 1 deadline.

Senior counsel Rakesh Dwivedi, representing the poll panel, however, told a Bench led by Justice Surya Kant that such claims and objections filed beyond the deadline would be considered after finalisation of the electoral rolls. Any extension of the deadline would lead to disruption of the entire SIR exercise and finalisation of final electoral roll, Dwivedi told the Bench, which also included Justice Joymalya Bagchi.

Dwivedi requested the Bench not to extend the deadline, saying it may become a never-ending process, if extended. In view of Dwivedi’s statement, the Bench chose not to pass any orders on pleas filed by the RJD and the AIMIM. “The process (of filing claims and objections) will continue until the last date of nominations and all inclusions and exclusions are integrated in the final rolls. In light of this stand, let the claims, objections and corrections be continued to be filed. Meanwhile, political parties and petitioners may submit their affidavits in response to the note,” it said, posting the matter for further hearing on September 8.

Terming the confusion over the SIR as largely a trust issue, the top court asked the state legal services authority to deploy paralegal volunteers to assist individual voters and political parties in filing claims and objections to the draft electoral rolls published on August 1. It directed paralegal volunteers to file confidential reports with the district judges concerned and the same would be considered on September 8.

“We also find that there are seriously disputed question of facts with regard to the submission on the acceptance of the claims and objections. With a view to facilitate the voters who are the central issue in these proceedings, we request the deputy chairman of the Bihar state legal services authority to issue instructions, preferably by tomorrow before noon, to depute or notify paralegal volunteers,” it said.

The RJD and the AIMIM had filed applications for the extension of the September 1 deadline to file objections to the draft voters list and claims for inclusion by those excluded.

However, Dwivedi said 99.5 per cent of the 7.24 crore electors in the draft electoral rolls had filed the eligibility documents and countered the contention of the RJD, which claimed to have filed 36 claims, and said the party had filed only 10 such claims.

The poll panel said it would be issuing notices within seven days to those electors whose documents were incomplete, calling the SIR a “continuing exercise”. Most claims and objections filed by political parties were for exclusion, not inclusion, of names from the electoral rolls, Dwivedi told the Bench.

On behalf of the petitioners, senior advocates Gopal Sankaranarayanan, Shoeb Alam, advocate Prashant Bhushan and others disputed the EC’s claims and alleged that the poll panel was not accepting any form, except Form-6.

On August 1, the EC came out with the “draft electoral rolls” in Bihar, enlisting 7.24 crore voters. The final electoral rolls 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 EC 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 would be disenfranchised.