BY PC Bureau
New Delhi, August 14, 2025 — In a significant directive aimed at safeguarding the constitutional right to vote, the Supreme Court of India has ordered the Election Commission of India (ECI) and the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of Bihar to publish the names of approximately 65 lakh voters whose entries have been deleted from the draft electoral rolls during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process in the state — along with specific reasons for their removal.
The order, passed by a bench led by Justice J.K. Maheshwari (referred to during the hearing as “J Kant”), followed extensive arguments from senior advocates and public interest lawyers representing petitioners challenging the large-scale deletions.
The Court was hearing a plea against the ECI’s conduct of the Bihar SIR exercise, where names of voters appearing in the 2025 rolls were found missing from the draft list. Petitioners allege the deletions violate due process and threaten free and fair elections.
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Who Appeared in Court
- Senior Advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan – Appearing for the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), the lead petitioner.
- Advocate Vrinda Grover – Raised concerns about data accessibility and manipulation risks.
- Senior Advocate Prashant Bhushan – Questioned the basis of deletions and BLO recommendations.
- Advocate Pasha – Highlighted the need for public access to information on submitted voter documents.
- Advocate Dwivedi – Representing the Election Commission of India, responded to Court queries.
- Advocate J Bagchi – Stressed the public’s right to know the reasons for deletion in simple terms.
Massive VICTORY ✌️
Supreme Court directs to ECI to publish list of 65 lakh deleted voters and reason for deletion. pic.twitter.com/GBHrxPGXDG
— ISHA VERMA (@IshaVerma__) August 14, 2025
Key Supreme Court Directions
The Supreme Court laid down an interim framework to ensure transparency and enable affected citizens to challenge wrongful deletions:
- Website Publication:
- District-wise, booth-level lists of approximately 65 lakh deleted voters will be published on the websites of all District Election Officers.
- The information must be EPIC-based searchable and presented in a machine-readable format to prevent manipulation.
- Soft Copies & Enquiry Records:
- The CEO of Bihar will maintain soft copies of the deletion lists along with reasons for each omission and upload them on the official CEO website.
- The ECI will obtain enquiry reports from Booth Level Officers (BLOs) and District Election Officers and submit a collated status report to the Court.
- Public Awareness Campaign:
- The reasons for non-inclusion must be explicitly stated.
- Wide publicity will be given in newspapers with maximum circulation in Bihar, as well as via Doordarshan and radio broadcasts.
- District Election Officers with social media pages must post public notices there.
- Booth-Level Display:
- BLOs will display booth-wise lists of deleted voters (with reasons) on notice boards at Panchayat offices for easy public access.
- Grievance Redressal:
- Public notices must clearly state that aggrieved persons can submit claims along with a copy of their Aadhaar card to restore their names in the electoral roll.
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Courtroom Exchanges and Observations
During the hearing, Justice Maheshwari emphasized:
“Since this action can have civil consequences of depriving a citizen of the right to franchise, a fair procedure is required.”
- Senior Advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan argued that the full list of 7.24 crore voters is already on the CEO’s website and the additional 65 lakh deleted names should be similarly published for transparency.
- Advocate Vrinda Grover insisted the lists must be machine-readable, noting past irregularities in electoral data handling.
- Senior Advocate Prashant Bhushan questioned the lack of clarity in BLO recommendations for deletion, pointing out that 10–11% of names were not recommended without adequate explanation.
- Advocate Pasha suggested that when an EPIC number is entered online, the documents submitted by the voter should also be displayed for accountability.
ECI’s counsel, Advocate Dwivedi, initially raised privacy concerns over searchable lists but later agreed to publish the information at the district level in a searchable form, also committing to display BLO contact numbers for public assistance.
Monitoring and Next Steps
The Supreme Court will monitor compliance with these directions. The ECI has been given three days to implement the order, and the matter will be heard again on Friday at 2 PM.
Justice Maheshwari made it clear that the Court will remain engaged:
“We are keeping the matter for monitoring purposes… We will see how much redressal is provided and how layman-friendly the process is.”
