The Election Commission of India (ECI) has informed the Supreme Court that the law does not require the poll body to prepare or share any separate list of names of people missing from draft electoral rolls or publish the reasons for their non-inclusion. The ECI stated that the legal framework only mandates sharing draft roll details with political parties.

The ECI's statement was made in response to an application filed by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) seeking details of 65 lakh names allegedly dropped from the recently published Bihar draft electoral roll as part of an ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR). The ADR had alleged that these names were deleted without transparency and without disclosing whether the deletions related to deceased persons, migrants, or other categories. They also claimed that political parties had not been given full access to the draft lists and that booth-level officers (BLOs) included or excluded names without proper verification.

In its defense, the ECI referred to the Representation of the People Act, 1950, and Rules 10 and 11 of the Registration of Electors Rules (RER), 1960. Rule 10 indicates that upon the formation of a draft electoral roll, a copy is to be made available for inspection outside the Electoral Registration Officer's (ERO) office. Rule 11 only requires the ERO to make “each separate part of the draft roll accessible to the public in the area to which that part relates and supply two copies of each separate part of the roll to every recognized political party. The ECI maintains that it has complied with these obligations.

The ECI clarified that the exclusion of a name from the draft electoral roll does not amount to deletion of an individual from the electoral rolls. The draft roll simply shows whether the duly filled enumeration form of existing electors has been received during the enumeration phase. The poll body acknowledged the possibility of inadvertent errors in the process due to human involvement.

The ECI emphasized that it had shared booth-level lists of electors whose forms were not received with recognized political parties through their district presidents and booth-level agents before publishing the draft rolls. Updated lists were again provided after political parties reported on their outreach efforts. The ECI also stated that it had shared the list of approximately 65 lakh electors, whose names have not been included in the draft roll, with political parties.

The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear the matter on August 12, 2025.