Supreme Court Questions ECI on Deletion of 65 Lakh Voters from Bihar Draft Rolls Amid SIR Controversy
Supreme Court Demands Transparency from Election Commission On August 7, 2025, the Supreme Court of India directed the Election Commission of India (ECI) to respond by August 9 to a plea by the NGO Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) seeking clarity on the deletion of approximately 65 lakh voters from Bihar's draft electoral rolls. These deletions were made following the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) initiated by the ECI under its June 24 directive. A bench comprising Justices Surya Kant, Ujjal Bhuyan, and N Kotiswar Singh instructed the ECI to furnish detailed data on the deleted voters, clarify whether these voters are dead, have permanently migrated, or were excluded for any other specific reason, and share the same with the NGO. Background: The SIR and the Dispute The ECI’s June 24 order had mandated a Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar ahead of the 2025 Assembly elections. The aim was to clean up the voter list, but it has drawn criticism...