Supreme Court Reviews Controversial Electoral Roll Revision in Bihar

Supreme Court Begins Hearing on Electoral Roll Revision

New Delhi: On Thursday, the Supreme Court initiated hearings regarding multiple petitions that contest the Election Commission's (EC) decision to conduct a special intensive revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls in Bihar, which is gearing up for elections.

A bench consisting of Justices Sudhanshu Dhulia and Joymalya Bagchi heard arguments from senior advocate Rakesh Dwivedi, who represents the Election Commission and raised initial objections to the petitions.

Alongside Dwivedi, senior advocates K K Venugopal and Maninder Singh are also defending the EC's stance.

Gopal Sankaranarayanan, a senior advocate representing one of the petitioners, argued that the revision of electoral rolls is permissible under the Representation of People Act.

He noted that the SIR aims to encompass approximately 7.9 crore citizens, emphasizing that voter ID and Aadhaar cards are not being factored into this process.

The hearings are currently ongoing.

More than ten petitions have been submitted to the Supreme Court, including one from the NGO 'Association for Democratic Reforms', which is the lead petitioner.

Prominent political figures, including RJD MP Manoj Jha, Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra, Congress leader K C Venugopal, NCP (SP) leader Supriya Sule, CPI leader D Raja, Samajwadi Party's Harinder Singh Malik, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Arvind Sawant, JMM's Sarfraz Ahmed, and CPI (ML) leader Dipankar Bhattacharya, have also approached the court, requesting the annulment of the EC's order.