Petitioners allege that voters were removed without due process, and constituency-level deletion data remains undisclosed.
By PC Bureau
New Delhi, August 6: The Supreme Court on Tuesday sought a response from the Election Commission of India (ECI) on a plea seeking full disclosure of the 65 lakh names recently deleted from the electoral rolls in Bihar. The deletions are part of a Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process and have raised concerns over transparency and potential disenfranchisement.
The plea was filed by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) and mentioned before a Bench of Justices Surya Kant, Ujjal Bhuyan and NK Singh by advocate Prashant Bhushan.
Bhushan argued that while the ECI’s August 1 draft roll indicates the removal of 65 lakh names, no complete list of these names has been made public, nor has the Commission clearly explained the reasons behind each deletion. “Who are these 65 lakh people? Who has migrated, who has died, and who is simply missing? Only in two constituencies has such information been shared,” Bhushan told the court.
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The ECI, in its earlier press release on July 25, said that deletions were based on reports by Booth Level Officers (BLOs) and Booth Level Agents (BLAs), citing reasons such as death (22 lakh voters), multiple registrations (7 lakh), and migration or untraceability (35 lakh). Around 1.2 lakh voters’ forms were still pending at the time.
However, ADR contends that the Commission has failed to provide part-wise or constituency-wise lists detailing the reasons for deletion. The current draft roll format also does not reflect the earlier practice of publishing the list of deleted electors, the plea noted.
During a mentioning, Court asked ECI to reply by Saturday to claims of non-disclosure in Bihar’s draft voter roll, where 65 lakh names were dropped without full details on migration or death grounds@SukritiMishra12 reports
Read more: https://t.co/Do4lcZ4U1X pic.twitter.com/21lnOyTrEv
— LawBeat (@LawBeatInd) August 6, 2025
Justice Surya Kant remarked that ECI’s Standard Operating Procedure mandates that political parties be provided this information. The Commission’s counsel responded that data had indeed been shared with party representatives. The Court, however, asked the ECI to submit in writing which political parties had received the details.
“File your reply by Saturday so Mr. Bhushan can examine it. We will hear the case on August 12,” the bench directed.
ADR also raised concern that voters whose names were deleted are unable to access legal remedies under Rule 21A of the Registration of Voters Rules, such as notice, hearing, or appeal. As such, they are at serious risk of being disenfranchised without due process.
In some districts, such as Darbhanga and Kaimur, BLOs reportedly marked large numbers of voters as “not recommended” for inclusion despite proper enumeration forms being uploaded.
ADR has urged the Court to direct the ECI to publish:
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A full list of all 65 lakh deleted names with the specific reasons for removal (death, migration, duplication, etc.), broken down by constituency and booth.
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A separate list of those whose forms were marked “not recommended” by BLOs.
The case is scheduled to be heard on August 12, alongside other petitions challenging the SIR process in Bihar ahead of the upcoming Assembly elections.
