Background

• The Election Commission of India (ECI) has initiated a Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls in Bihar for the general elections for its Legislative Assembly scheduled to be held in the month of November.
• Article 324 of the Indian Constitution stipulates that the superintendence, direction and control of the preparation of electoral rolls for the conduct of elections to Parliament and the State legislature shall vest with the ECI.
• Section 21 of the Representation of the People Act, 1950 (RP Act) provides for the preparation and revision of electoral rolls and authorises the ECI to carry out a special revision of the electoral roll at any time but the reasons must be recorded.

WHY DID THE SPECIAL INVESTIGATION INITIATED?

• The ECI has noted that there have been large scale additions and subtractions to the electoral rolls over the last 20 years due to rapid urbanisation and migration.
• This has increased the possibility of duplicate entries in the roll. The Commission is constitutionally obligated to ensure that only citizens are enrolled in the electoral rolls.
• The EC has decided to carry out an SIR for the entire country, starting with Bihar.

PROCESS FOR SIR

• Every elector will have to submit an enumeration form to their respective Booth Level Officers (BLOs).
• If somebody is not home, three visits would be made,the burden is on ECI to get the enumeration forms and upload them on the ECI Net.
• The last SIR was done for Bihar in the year of 2003 and those electors who are registered after January 2003, have to additionally submit documents for proving the date and place of birth for themselves and their parent(s) as required.

NOTIONS AGAINST THE SIR DECISION

• The ECI’s announcement of SIR has prompted a fresh joint petition to be filed before the hon’able Supreme Court of India by leaders of various opposition political parties like Congress, NCP (Sharad Pawar faction), Shiv Sena (Uddhav Thackeray group), Samajwadi Party, JMM, CPI, and CPI (ML).
• Even various leaders have filed separate petitions to revise the ECI’s decision of special revision of electoral rolls, all of which was heard on 10th July 2025.
• They contended that close to 3 crores of voters would be required to submit documents establishing their date and place of birth for themselves and their parents which is in itself a very humungous task.
• Migrant labourers and students may not be able to submit their enumeration forms within the deadline i.e 1 August and the final roll date i.e September 30.
• Aadhaar has become an omnibus identity card for all sections of society, especially the under privileged who may not possess any other document.

NOTIONS IN FAVOUR OF SIR DECISION

• In the past decade 70 lakh have migrated from Bihary. This itself makes a strong case for SIR.
• SIR in 2003 was carried out within 31 days without technological support at that time.This time also the same amount of time will be taken but with more advanced technology this time.
• Additionally,there are more than one lakh BLOs, nearly 4 lakh volunteers and more than 1.5 lakh Booth Level Agents (BLAs), appointed by political parties, to ensure its speedy and efficient implementation.
• Aadhaar Card is neither a proof of date of birth nor of citizenship. It itself comes with a disclaimer that it can’t be used as proof of citizenship. Thus,for legal purposes, the Aadhaar has been excluded as a valid document and the list of valid documents will include caste certificates, family registers and land allotment certificates.

SUPREME COURT’S DECISION REGARDING ECI’s DECISION OF SIR FOR BIHAR

• On 10th July 2025, a Bench of Justices Sudhanshu Dhulia and Joymalya Bagchi at the hon’able Supreme Court of India allowed the SIR in Bihar to continue.
•  It did not pass any interim order of sta and the court listed the case for hearing next on July 28, prior to the publication of the draft electoral roll in August.
• The court further said that if a crore people have been left out, the court could intervene then, it will not stall the ECI process merely because it has doubts about the ECI’s timelines and should be allowed to prove its credentials.
• The ECI has given a list of 11 documents  for verification of voters, but the list is not exhaustive. Therefore, in the interest of justice for ECI to consider Aadhaar, EPIC, issued by the ECI itself, and ration card.

CONCLUSION

The ECI’s motto of ensuring that no eligible voter should be left out and no ineligible person  is included in the electoral roll through its decision of initiating special intensive revision has been upheld by the hon’able Supreme Court but the court has expressed stated that Aadhar Card can’t excluded by ECI as an valid document.

AUTHOR’S INFORMATION

Mansi, a third year law student currently studying at VIPS-TC under GGSIPU with a growing interest for legal research. She’s passionate about criminal justice, family law and women & child rights.