Summary
- The RJD has filed a Supreme Court plea challenging the Election Commission’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar ahead of the 2025 Assembly polls.
- Opposition parties and civil society groups allege the move is discriminatory, disenfranchising millions of young and marginalised voters to benefit the BJP.
- The EC maintains the revision is necessary due to urbanisation, migration, and illegal voter entries, and claims full legal compliance in its execution.
Revising Democracy or Rigging It? Bihar’s Poll Roll Storm Reaches Supreme Court
As Bihar heads toward crucial state elections in late 2025, its voter rolls have become the epicentre of a growing national controversy. On July 6, the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) moved the Supreme Court challenging the Election Commission of India’s (ECI) directive to conduct a Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls exclusively in Bihar. The petition, filed by RJD MP Manoj Jha and represented by senior advocate Kapil Sibal, questions the timing, scope, and selective targeting of the exercise.
What began as an administrative order to “cleanse” voter lists has snowballed into a constitutional challenge. RJD’s plea claims that the SIR is not just a bureaucratic anomaly but a political manoeuvre—one designed to disenfranchise young voters, migrants, and marginalised communities who are most likely to support opposition parties. Their primary question: why Bihar, and why now?
With the first phase of SIR already underway, and the draft electoral rolls set to be released on August 1, the case could have immediate implications for nearly 80 million eligible voters in the state. At stake is not just Bihar’s election—but the public’s trust in the neutrality of India’s electoral machinery.
#BREAKING Plea in Supreme Court challenges Election Commission of India's order for a Special Intensive Revision of Electoral Roll in Bihar.
— Live Law (@LiveLawIndia) July 5, 2025
The petition filed by Association for Democratic Reforms @adrspeaks contends that the ECI order is arbitrary and can disenfranchise… pic.twitter.com/qRRGZTisPx
The EC’s Justification: Urban Chaos, Demographic Shifts, and Voter Fraud
- The EC ordered the SIR on June 24 citing rapid urbanisation, migration, and outdated rolls.
- It aims to remove ineligible names, including those of deceased citizens and illegal foreign nationals.
- Officials are conducting house-to-house verification, live photo collection, and digital documentation.
- Electors have until July 25 to submit corrections; draft rolls will be published on August 1.
- The EC insists the process complies with all constitutional and legal standards.
According to the Election Commission, the Special Intensive Revision is purely procedural. It claims Bihar’s voter rolls are due for overhaul due to a combination of high mobility, non-reporting of deaths, and suspected illegal entries. The June 24 directive lays out a multi-step verification process that includes field-level door-to-door surveys, live photographs of electors, and targeted assistance for voter registration.
In its official statement, the EC maintains that the process is legally grounded and constitutionally sound. “There is no deviation from the prescribed SIR instructions,” the commission reiterated, dismissing allegations of political bias as “misleading and speculative.”
But critics argue that legality alone doesn’t address the optics—or consequences—of conducting such a large-scale revision in a politically volatile state just months before voting. The optics, they say, are damning: an all-too-convenient purge of potentially anti-incumbent voters in a critical battleground.
Opposition’s Charge: Disenfranchisement by Design?
- RJD, Congress, TMC, and civil society groups allege targeted voter suppression in Bihar.
- Critics say the SIR could remove lakhs of voters born between July 1987 and December 2004.
- Mahua Moitra called it a “diabolical” attempt to erase opposition votes and warned West Bengal could be next.
- Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge claimed nearly 8 crore voters could be affected.
- Protests and a state-wide strike have been called by the INDI alliance and trade unions on July 9.
The backlash has been swift and coordinated. RJD’s Tejashwi Yadav questioned why Bihar was singled out when the last nationwide voter revision occurred in 2003. Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge went further, declaring that “nearly 8 crore people will suffer” as a result of the order. TMC’s Mahua Moitra accused the EC of laying the groundwork for a similar operation in West Bengal, alleging that voters born between 1987 and 2004 would be disproportionately removed.
Civil society has also mobilised. Groups like PUCL, the Association of Democratic Reforms, and activists including Yogendra Yadav have joined the Supreme Court battle, arguing that the process lacks transparency, consultation, and urgency beyond political convenience.
The INDI opposition alliance has called for a protest strike in Bihar on July 9, escalating the issue into a public movement. For them, the SIR isn’t just an administrative action—it’s a political assault on democratic participation.
EC’s Defence and BJP’s Rebuttal: Crying Wolf Before the Ballot?
- The EC insists the SIR is necessary and has been conducted “smoothly” so far.
- It has published detailed protocols for the verification process and opened helplines.
- The BJP-led NDA says the opposition is creating a false narrative to cover up electoral unpopularity.
- NDA leaders accuse the opposition of obstructing electoral reforms for fear of a clean contest.
- EC asserts that electors still have time to verify and correct entries until July 25.
On the other side of the aisle, the Election Commission is not backing down. Its officials maintain that the process has been “smooth” in Phase I, and reiterate that electors have ample time to verify their status or re-register if necessary.
The BJP, meanwhile, has dismissed the opposition’s outrage as “an excuse for an impending defeat.” Party spokespersons argue that RJD and Congress are alarmed not by disenfranchisement, but by the potential removal of fictitious or duplicated voters that have long padded their vote banks.
In the NDA’s framing, the SIR represents not suppression, but sanitisation—a long-overdue attempt to ensure the integrity of Indian elections. The battle, therefore, is not merely legal or electoral—it is ideological, over the very definition of what constitutes a fair vote.
Ballot or Bureaucracy? The Verdict May Define Bihar’s 2025 Polls
The Supreme Court challenge filed by RJD and echoed by other parties may very well shape the outcome of Bihar’s 2025 Assembly elections before a single vote is cast. If the court upholds the SIR, the EC will continue what it claims is a voter integrity exercise. If the process is stayed or struck down, it will be a blow to the perception of the EC’s neutrality.
But beyond the legalities, the episode reveals deeper fissures in India’s democratic architecture: a growing distrust in electoral institutions, polarised narratives around voter legitimacy, and rising anxieties about technological and bureaucratic manipulation of the electoral process.
With voter registration deadlines closing on July 25 and draft rolls due on August 1, time is of the essence. What unfolds in the Supreme Court next week will not just be about Bihar—it will be about whether India’s elections can still be trusted to belong to its people.
