Bihar Opposition Party RJD Challenges Poll Roll Revision In Supreme Court
Tejashwi Yadav's Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) approached the Supreme Court challenging the Election Commission order on revision of electoral rolls in Bihar, a state set to go to polls later this year. Senior advocate Kapil Sibal will appear for the RJD in the case and has requested an early hearing on Monday.
On June 24, the poll body issued instructions to carry out the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in Bihar to ensure only eligible citizens can vote. It said the exercise was necessitated by rapid urbanisation, frequent migration, young citizens becoming eligible to vote, non-reporting of deaths, and inclusion of the names of foreign illegal immigrants. The EC added that it will scrupulously adhere to the constitutional and legal provisions in revising electoral rolls.
The plea by the party's Rajya Sabha MP Manoj Jha is the latest among a chorus of political voices opposing the poll body's order to conduct the exercise that will entail preparation of a draft list containing the names of existing voters whose enumeration forms were received.
Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra alleged that the order for SIR of electoral rolls was intended to deprive the bonafide young electorate from voting in this year's polling, and the panel's next target would be West Bengal. Challenging the order in the Supreme Court, she said the order will disable lakhs of voters born between July 1, 1987 and December 2, 2004 from voting, helping the BJP at the Centre. Her party's chief and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had earlier called the EC order a "diabolical game plan".
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said Bihar's voters of the state would teach the saffron party a lesson for its attack on democracy and the Constitution, claiming that nearly eight crore people will suffer because of the exercise. The INDI alliance has also decided to flag the issue in the state on July 9 as part of a nationwide strike called by Left-leaning trade unions.
Mr Jha's party colleague Tejashwi Jha had earlier questioned why the exercise was being carried out only in Bihar, unlike the previous country-wide revision in 2003.
Several civil society organisations such as PUCL and the Association of Democratic Reforms, and activists like Yogendra Yadav have also approached the Supreme Court against the direction to conduct SIR.
The BJP-led NDA defended the exercise, accusing the opposition of trying to come up with an "excuse ahead of a certain defeat in elections".
The Election Commission on Sunday said the first phase of the exercise had been completed smoothly in Bihar, debunking claims that the process was being manipulated in favour of the ruling dispensation. "It is reiterated that SIR is being conducted as per the SIR instructions dated June 24, 2025, and there is no change in the instructions," it said. The poll body also elaborated upon the process being undertaken as part of the SIR exercise, which includes house-to-house visits, taking live photographs and assisting electors with form submissions.
Electors have been given time till July 25 to submit their documents and the draft electoral rolls will be issued on August 1.
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While Moitra argued this was a violation of the right(s) to equality, freedom of speech and expression and life, Yadav also termed the decision 'manifestly arbitrary, unreasonable and violative of electoral laws'. The origins of this case lie in a June 24 decision of the ECI, which directed the state election commission to conduct a special intensive revision of the electoral polls in Bihar. New Delhi: Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Mahua Moitra and Bharat Jodo Abhiyan national convener Yogendra Yadav, among others, have moved the Supreme Court against the Election Commission of India's (ECI) decision to conduct a Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in poll-bound Bihar, saying that a similar second revision of the voters list can be replicated in the state of West Bengal, in a similar fashion. 'It is submitted that it is for the very first time in the country that such an exercise is being conducted by the ECI, where electors whose names are already there in electoral rolls and who have already voted multiple times in are being asked to prove their eligibility,' Moitra's petition contended. Apart from this, similar petitions have been filed by non-profit organisations Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) and People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL). Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) MP Manoj Jha has also filed a similar petition before the top court. ADR's petition, which has been filed through advocate Prashant Bhushan, also mentions alleged lack of due process and an 'unreasonably short timeline' for the revision exercise to take place, while adding that it could result in the removal of lakhs of genuine voters from electoral rolls leading to their disenfranchisement. 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