Supreme Court flags timing, legality of EC’s voter roll revision; Yadav calls it the “first big victory” for voter rights.
New Delhi: Today. on July 10, the Supreme Court of India, on Thursday, took a serious view of the Election Commission’s (EC) ongoing special intensive revision of the voter list in Bihar.
This revision process has faced strong opposition, with many, including political analyst Yogendra Yadav, claiming it could lead to the wrongful removal of legitimate voters, especially from poor and marginalised communities.
The apex court, while hearing the matter, raised important questions about the legal basis of this revision and expressed concern over the timing of the exercise, given that elections in Bihar are due in October or November this year.
The voter list was already updated in January 2025, and critics questioned why another revision was being carried out so soon before the state election.
Yogendra Yadav, who is among those who have challenged the EC’s decision in court, hailed this development as a major win.
He told media,
“Now the entire process will be monitored by the Supreme Court… the court will keep an eye on the revision of electoral rolls. We have got the first big victory today.”
The court did not grant a stay on the revision process but clearly expressed its doubts about the EC’s capacity to finish the process in time without causing damage to genuine voters’ rights.
The bench asked the poll panel why it had left out commonly used government IDs like Aadhaar, ration cards, and even its own voter identity card, from the list of documents required for re-verification of voters.
The Supreme Court clearly stated that
“In our opinion it will be in the interest of justice if these three are included…”,
referring to Aadhaar, ration cards, and the EC-issued voter ID.
Further, Yogendra Yadav highlighted the key issues raised in the petition.
He said,
“We had said in our petition that the way the Election Commission is revising the rolls is an attempt to suppress the common people’s right to vote.”
He added,
“That is why we had requested the Supreme Court to intervene in this matter. And I am happy the Supreme Court has recorded, in its order, the suggestion that Aadhaar, voter ID, and ration card should be included in the list of documents.”
Another significant observation made by the Supreme Court was that every person whose name is removed from the voter list must be given the opportunity to appeal.
This is a crucial safeguard to ensure that no one is unfairly disenfranchised.
The court said,
“Your exercise is not the problem… it is the timing. We have serious doubts if you can manage this exercise. With such a big population (an estimated eight crore people) being subject to this ‘intensive review’, is it possible to link this to the forthcoming election?”
This voter list revision has led to political uproar in Bihar. The opposition alliance, which includes the Congress and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), has strongly criticised the EC. They claim the commission is acting under pressure from the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
The opposition believes that this revision could deprive crores of poor and backward community voters of their right to vote – even if they have been voting regularly in the past, including in up to ten major elections since 2003.
The EC, in response, told the court that Aadhaar is a document for verifying identity, not citizenship. It also assured the bench that no genuine voter would be removed from the list.
The court, however, asked the EC to justify the legal backing for this revision and submit a detailed response before the next hearing scheduled on July 28.
Sources within the Election Commission later told NDTV that the commission stands by its legal authority to conduct this special intensive revision. They added that Aadhaar is already accepted as a valid ID for voter verification purposes.
Thus, the Supreme Court’s observations have brought a significant shift in the ongoing dispute over Bihar’s voter list revision.
With monitoring now under the court’s watchful eye and important documents like Aadhaar, voter ID, and ration cards likely to be accepted, this is being seen by critics of the revision as a major step in safeguarding democratic rights.
Yogendra Yadav summed it up by calling it “the first big victory” in the fight to protect the right to vote.
Click Here to Read Our Reports on Bihar Voter List
