The Supreme Court on Thursday expressed confidence that the Election Commission of India (ECI) would act responsibly to rectify typographical and factual errors detected in the final electoral roll of Bihar, prepared after the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise.
A Bench comprising Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi said it expects the poll panel to take “remedial measures” where required, underscoring the importance of accuracy and transparency in the voter registration process. The matter will be taken up again on November 4, when the court will hear arguments on legal issues relating to the SIR exercise.
The ECI informed the court that no appeal had been filed by any voter against name deletion since the final electoral roll was published on September 30. The Bench also took note that the electoral roll would be frozen on October 17 in constituencies voting in the first phase and on October 20 for the second phase.
Advocate Prashant Bhushan, representing the NGO Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), disputed the ECI’s earlier submission that a case of a missing voter was “fake”. Bhushan told the Bench that the voter’s details were “true” and demanded greater transparency from the Commission.
Also read: Supreme Court to hear final arguments on Bihar SIR
He said, “EC should disclose how many voters were deleted and for what revision to ensure transparency in the exercise.”
The Bench, on October 7, had directed the Commission to submit details of 3.66 lakh voters who were listed in the draft but excluded from the final roll, observing “confusion” in the figures presented.
According to data released by the ECI on September 30, the total number of electors in Bihar has fallen by nearly 47 lakh, to 7.42 crore in the final list, from 7.89 crore before the SIR exercise. The draft list issued on August 1 had reduced the count by 65 lakh, citing reasons such as deaths, migration and duplication of names.
However, 21.53 lakh new voters were added and 3.66 lakh names were deleted, resulting in a net increase of 17.87 lakh electors from the draft list.
Bihar will vote in two phases, November 6 for 121 Assembly seats and November 11 for the remaining 122 constituencies. Counting of votes will take place on November 14.
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