Supreme Court Sees Bihar Voter List Revision as Inclusionary, Not Restrictive

The Supreme Court on Wednesday pushed back against criticism of Bihar's ongoing special intensive revision (SIR) of the electoral roll, calling the process "voter friendly" despite concerns over Aadhaar's exclusion.

Hearing petitions challenging the Election Commission's June 24 decision to conduct the SIR in the poll-bound state, a bench of Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi pointed to one key change: the number of acceptable ID documents has risen from seven in the earlier summary revision to 11 now. "A high number of documents is actually inclusionary," the bench remarked, noting that voters need only produce one from the list.

Petitioners, represented by senior advocate Abhishek Singhvi, disagreed. They argued that while the number of documents may have increased, their real-world availability remains limited. Singhvi cited the example of passports, which are held by only 1-2% of Bihar's population, and noted the absence of a provision for permanent resident certificates in the state.

The court, however, saw it differently. "The coverage of 36 lakh passport holders appears to be good," it said, adding that such document lists are generally compiled after feedback from government departments to ensure wide access.

Earlier, on August 12, the top court backed the EC's position that Aadhaar and voter IDs cannot be treated as conclusive proof of citizenship for the SIR. The judges also remarked that the dispute seemed rooted in a "trust deficit," pointing out that, according to the EC, nearly 6.5 crore of Bihar's 7.9 crore voters won't have to submit any documents at all because their or their parents' names were already recorded in the 2003 rolls.