Today, On 29th August, The Supreme Court directed to intimate the Election Commission in the Bihar SIR row, as Prashant Bhushan mentioned RJD’s plea seeking extension on voter list deletions. The Bench will hear the matter on September 1.
New Delhi: Advocate Prashant Bhushan mentioned before the Supreme Court the matter related to the Bihar State Information Report (SIR).
The case was taken up by a Bench comprising Justice Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice Vipul M Pancholi.
Prashant Bhushan informed the court that the issue was regarding the Bihar SIR case in which political parties were to be impleaded. He pointed out that the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) had already filed an application seeking an extension and also raised questions regarding certain deletions.
Addressing the Bench, Bhushan submitted,
“This is regarding the Bihar SIR matter where the political parties were to be impleaded. RJD had filed an application seeking extension and regarding the deletions. Your lordships may hear it on Monday.”
Taking note of the submission, the court responded,
“Alright. Intimate the Election Commission also.”
With this, the matter has now been scheduled to be heard next week, where the Election Commission is also expected to be informed and involved in the proceedings.
Earlier, On August 6, the Court learned that 6.5 million names were removed from the draft electoral roll published on August 1. The ECI assured the Court that no names would be removed without prior notice, an opportunity for a hearing, and a reasoned order from the appropriate authority.
The Election Commission of India (ECI), On 24 June 2025, started a Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls in Bihar before the Assembly elections. Under this process, voters were asked to provide updated documents, but many citizens did not have them.
Opposition parties and several NGOs criticised this move, saying it could deprive a large number of genuine voters of their right to vote. They approached the Supreme Court (SC), calling the ECI’s action arbitrary and against the Constitution.
The Commission, On 1 August 2025, released the draft electoral roll, which showed a total of 7.24 crore registered voters. At the same time, around 65 lakh names were removed from the list.
Petitioners, including the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), requested the Supreme Court to order the ECI to make public the full list of voters whose names were dropped, along with the reasons for each deletion. They said that without such transparency, many citizens might lose their right to vote without being given a fair chance to object.