SC tells EC to give details of 65 lakh Bihar voter deletions by August 9

Ahead of the August 12 hearing on petitions challenging the special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar, the Supreme Court on Wednesday asked the Election Commission to furnish by Saturday details of around 65 lakh voters deleted from the draft electoral rolls.

A Bench of Justice Surya Kant, Justice Ujjal Bhuyan and Justice N Kotiswar Singh directed the EC’s counsel to provide the details of deleted voters already shared with political parties and also submit a copy to the petitioner, the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR). The Bench said, “File a reply by Saturday and let (Prashant) Bhushan (representing ADR) look at it. Then we can see what is disclosed and what is not disclosed.”

The order came on ADR’s fresh application seeking directions to the poll panel to publish the names of around 65 lakh deleted voters, clarifying whether they were deceased, had permanently migrated or were excluded for other reasons. The Bench assured, “We will see (to it) that every voter likely to be affected gets the required information.”

On July 29, the Bench had said it would intervene if there was mass exclusion of eligible voters in poll-bound Bihar and if the Election Commission deviated from its June 24 SIR notification.

“We are over-viewing the thing as a judicial authority. If there is mass exclusion, we will immediately step in. Bring 15 people saying they are alive, we will deal with it,” the Bench had remarked, scheduling the next hearing for August 12 and 13.

During Wednesday’s hearing, Bhushan alleged 75 per cent of voters who filled out the enumeration form did not submit any supporting documents from the list of 11 required documents, yet their names were included based on recommendations of booth level officers (BLOs). He further claimed that while political parties received lists of deleted voters, there was no clarification on whether these voters were deceased or had migrated.

The Bench, however, noted that the current list was only a draft and reasons for deletions would be provided later. Earlier, describing the Election Commission as a constitutional body discharging the functions assigned to it, the Bench had refused to stay the SIR.

The EC had ordered the SIR in Bihar, the first since 2003, to remove ineligible individuals and ensure only eligible citizens were included in the electoral rolls. The exercise was deemed necessary due to rapid urbanisation, frequent migration, new voters becoming eligible, unreported deaths and the inclusion of foreign illegal immigrants.

On August 1, the EC released the draft electoral rolls, listing 7.24 crore voters while deleting over 65 lakh names, citing reasons such as death, migration or duplicate entries. The final electoral roll will be published on September 30. According to the EC, of the 65 lakh deleted voters, 22.34 lakh were deceased, 36.28 lakh had permanently shifted or were absent and 7.01 lakh were enrolled in multiple locations.