Supreme Court To Hear Final Arguments On Bihar Voter List Petitions Today

The Supreme Court will on Tuesday take up the final round of arguments on a series of petitions contesting the legality of Bihar’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, conducted in the run-up to the 2025 Assembly elections.

Previously, a bench of Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi had postponed the hearing after the Election Commission of India (ECI) requested that the issue be addressed only once the revised voter list had been officially published on 1 October.

The ECI has since completed the SIR exercise, releasing the final rolls with 7.43 crore registered voters, including 14 lakh people added to the list for the first time.

The petitions, filed by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) and other groups, allege irregularities and a lack of transparency in the revision process.

Senior advocate Prashant Bhushan, representing ADR, had earlier urged the court to intervene before the publication of the rolls, citing potential violations of voting rights and procedural lapses.

The bench, however, clarified that judicial oversight would remain possible even after the list’s publication and assured that it would step in if any illegality remained uncovered.

In earlier proceedings, the court directed the ECI to recognise Aadhaar as a valid supporting document during the verification drive.

At the same time, the bench reiterated that Aadhaar does not prove citizenship and instructed the Commission to thoroughly scrutinise all submitted documents.

The bench refused to issue interim or partial orders and reserved its final decision until it hears the matter in full.

“We will examine the entire exercise in totality,” Justice Kant observed at the previous hearing.

ECI Announces Bihar Election Schedule

Meanwhile, the ECI confirmed that the Bihar Assembly elections will take place in two phases on 6 and 11 November, with vote counting on 14 November.

Addressing a press conference, Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar described the upcoming polls as the ‘mother of all elections’, highlighting the scale of preparations to ensure a peaceful and transparent voting process.

“We want to assure the voters of Bihar that the elections will not only be smooth and fair but also the most peaceful ever, with a special focus on law and order,” Kumar stated.

Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi joined him.

This election will be the first major democratic exercise in the state following the SIR-led overhaul of the voter register.