Supreme Court Urges Election Commission to Address Errors in Bihar’s Final Electoral Roll

New Delhi| The Supreme Court on Thursday directed the Election Commission of India (ECI) to review and rectify typographical and other discrepancies found in the final Bihar electoral roll prepared after the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise.

A bench comprising Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi said the Election Commission, as a responsible constitutional authority, must take corrective action and ensure the accuracy of the electoral roll. The court will next hear the legal matters related to the SIR process on November 4

During the hearing, the ECI informed the court that since the publication of the final electoral roll on September 30, not a single voter has filed an appeal against the deletion of their name.

However, advocate Prashant Bhushan, representing the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), contested the Commission’s statement. He said that details of a voter whose name was allegedly omitted from the final list — earlier dismissed as “fake” by the EC during the October 7 hearing — were, in fact, genuine.

Bhushan urged the ECI to disclose the total number of voters deleted and the reasons behind such revisions to ensure full transparency in the process.

The bench noted that voter lists will be frozen on October 17 for constituencies voting in the first phase and on October 20 for those voting in the second phase of the upcoming Bihar Assembly elections.

Earlier, on October 7, the Supreme Court had asked the Election Commission to submit details of 3.66 lakh voters who were included in the draft list but excluded from the final one after the SIR exercise, citing “confusion” surrounding the matter.

According to the ECI, Bihar’s final electoral roll, published on September 30, recorded a reduction of about 47 lakh voters, bringing the total number down from 7.89 crore to 7.42 crore. However, the final figure still showed an increase of 17.87 lakh voters compared to the 7.24 crore electors listed in the draft roll issued on August 1.

The Commission explained that 65 lakh names were removed from the original list due to reasons such as death, migration, or duplication, while 21.53 lakh new voters were added. After removing 3.66 lakh names, the net gain stood at 17.87 lakh voters.

The Bihar Assembly elections are scheduled for November 6 in 121 constituencies, with the remaining 122 seats going to polls on November 11. The counting of votes will take place on November 14.