The Supreme Court has directed the Election Commission of India (ECI) to provide detailed information by August 9, 2025, regarding the removal of approximately 65 lakh voters from Bihar's draft electoral rolls. This order follows a plea by an NGO, the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), seeking clarity on the reasons for these deletions, specifically whether they are due to death, relocation, or other factors.
The ECI released Bihar's draft voter list on August 1, 2025, after a month-long Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise aimed at updating and cleaning up the electoral roll. The draft roll lists 7.24 crore voters but excludes over 65 lakh names, citing reasons such as death (22.34 lakh), permanent absence or migration (36.28 lakh), and multiple registrations (7.01 lakh). The ECI has defended the revision exercise, stating that it aims to ensure electoral integrity by removing ineligible voters.
ADR's application requests the ECI to publish a detailed, assembly constituency-wise and booth-wise list of the excluded 65 lakh voters, specifying reasons such as death, permanent migration, duplication, or other grounds. It also sought publication of a list marking voters “not recommended by the BLOs” (Booth Level Officers) in the draft rolls released on August 1. Advocate Prashant Bhushan, representing ADR, argued that the identities of the 65 lakh names struck off from Bihar's electoral roll remain unknown. He also contended that it appeared that Booth Level Officers (BLOs) may have independently decided to remove names, warranting further investigation. Bhushan claimed that 75% of voters who submitted enumeration forms did not attach any of the 11 required documents, and their inclusion was based on recommendations by booth level officers (BLOs). He argued that even the list of deleted names provided to a few political parties has served no purpose as they cannot be used to cross-check any details from the ground in the absence of the reasons for such deletions.
The Supreme Court bench, led by Justices Surya Kant, Ujjal Bhuyan, and N Kotiswar Singh, has asked the ECI to share details of the deleted voters and provide a copy of the data already shared with political parties to the ADR. Justice Surya Kant acknowledged that the list currently published is a draft and that reasons for deletion would be clarified later. The court has scheduled hearings for petitions challenging the June 24 ECI order mandating the SIR, filed by leaders including RJD MP Manoj Jha, ADR, PUCL, activist Yogendra Yadav, Trinamool MP Mahua Moitra, and former Bihar MLA Mujahid Alam, for August 12 and 13.
The ECI counsel stated that the draft roll was indeed shared with political parties and made publicly available. The EC further announced that the public has one month to lodge any grievance and submit any claims, assuring them that "no name will be removed from the draft voter list without a stated reason". The court has asked ECI to clarify if and when the draft rolls were circulated to political parties prior to publication.
The Supreme Court has emphasized that ECI must act cautiously while dropping names from the voters' list and noted that forgery, if any, could be tackled on a case-by-case basis. The court had also urged the ECI to treat Aadhaar and Election Photo Identity Cards (EPIC) as carrying a “presumption of genuineness”.
