The Supreme Court said Today (July 9) it will hear a plea on July 10 challenging the Election Commission’s order for a Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voter lists in Bihar. Activists and opposition leaders claim the move threatens fair elections and risks voter exclusion.
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NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court of India today said it will hear a plea filed by two social activists who are opposing the Election Commission of India’s (ECI) decision to carry out a Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar.
The state is expected to hold assembly elections soon.
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A bench of Justices Sudhanshu Dhulia and Joymalya Bagchi said that it will take up the plea on July 10, along with other similar cases. The matter was brought before the court by senior advocate Vrinda Grover, who requested an urgent hearing.
Grover said the petition filed by activists Arshad Ajmal and Rupesh Kumar is challenging the ECI’s June 24 order which started the SIR process in Bihar. She asked the court to hear this case along with other petitions that raise the same issue.
According to the petitioners, the revision process goes against the basic ideas of a fair and free election system and representative democracy, which are very important parts of India’s Constitution. The activists argue that the ECI’s order introduces arbitrary, unreasonable and disproportionate documentation requirements related to birth, residence and citizenship.
They also say that this process especially affects people from poor backgrounds, migrants, women, and marginalised communities. These groups, according to them, already face difficulties in society, and their right to vote is a critical lever of political accountability.
The plea adds that such rules are unfair, do not have a strong legal foundation, and may result in large numbers of people being left out of the voting list. The petition asks the Supreme Court to cancel the ongoing voter list revision in Bihar, saying the ECI’s June 24, 2025 order is “unconstitutional.”
Earlier on July 7, the Supreme Court had agreed to hear several petitions on July 10 that also challenge the ECI’s decision to conduct SIR in Bihar.
Many fresh petitions have also been filed in the Supreme Court by leaders of major opposition parties like Congress, NCP (Sharad Pawar faction), Shiv Sena (Uddhav Thackeray group), Samajwadi Party, JMM, CPI, and CPI (ML).
These leaders filed a joint petition against the Election Commission’s decision to revise the electoral rolls before the Bihar elections.
Other well-known leaders like RJD MP Manoj Jha and Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra have also filed separate petitions. Politicians such as KC Venugopal (Congress), Supriya Sule (NCP-Sharad Pawar faction), D Raja (CPI), Harinder Singh Malik (Samajwadi Party), Arvind Sawant (Shiv Sena-UBT), Sarfraz Ahmed (JMM), and Dipankar Bhattacharya (CPI-ML) are among those who have moved the top court.
They all want the court to cancel the Election Commission’s order for the SIR of electoral rolls in Bihar, claiming it is not legal and could hurt democratic rights.
Civil society organisations have also come forward in support. Groups like PUCL, Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), and well-known activist Yogendra Yadav have also filed petitions challenging the ECI’s decision.
All these petitions argue that the ECI’s move is harmful to democracy and will lead to many people—especially from disadvantaged backgrounds—losing their right to vote.
The Supreme Court will now hear all these related petitions together on July 10, 2025.
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