PUCL Approaches Supreme Court Challenging ECI's Electoral Roll Revision In Bihar

The People's Union for Civil Liberties has filed a writ petition in the Supreme Court challenging the move of the Election Commission of India (ECI) in directing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in the entire country, with immediate enforcement in Bihar a few months ahead of the assembly elections.

The petition challenges the validity of the order issued by the ECI on June 24 for conducting the SIR, saying that ECI has "not defined any legitimate aim, nor sought to avoid disproportionate harm to electors."

The ECI's directive calls for a Special Intensive Revision of Electoral Rolls in Bihar, as per which voters who do not figure in the 2003 electoral rolls have to submit the specified citizenship documents to prove they are genuine citizens.

The petitioner stated that the Special Intensive Revision was earlier a five-yearly exercise, with the aim of updating the records with respect to deaths, migrations, and also new additions to the electoral rolls. In 2003- 2004, after digitisation of the rolls, SIRs were discontinued since they were considered resource-intensive, without serving any special purpose, since with digitisation of rolls, constant electronic revisions and modifications were already made possible. Summary revisions were still undertaken to streamline and update the rolls by taking into account deaths/ migrations/ duplications. Given the immediate digital access, the need for such a resource-intensive and cumbersome SIR is not made clear.

The petitioner argues that unless this order dated 24.06.2025 is quashed, it could arbitrarily and without due process disenfranchise lakhs of voters, undermining free and fair elections and thus striking at the heart of the basic structure of the Constitution. The stringent documentation requirements, absence of adequate procedural safeguards, and the unreasonably short timeline for conducting this special revision in Bihar are likely to result in the wrongful deletion of genuine voters from the rolls, effectively denying them their right to vote.

"The process undermines democracy's foundational principle that legitimate governance derives from the consent of all citizens, not just those who can navigate exclusionary administrative mazes. An illegal exercise, also hastily conducted to cover a population of almost 8Crore is likely to result in exclusion of voters and thereby defeat democracy using the very tools of democracy. Conveniently, those left out would be called ghost voters or fake voters," the petition stated..

Petitions have also been filed by the Association for Democratic Reforms, activist Yogendra Yadav and Lok Sabha MP Mahua Moitra challenging the ECI decision.

The PUCL petition has been filed through AoR Talha Abdul Rahman.