ECI tells Supreme Court objections, claims can continue past 1 September

On 1 September, Monday, the Election Commission of India told the Supreme Court that claims, objections and corrections related to the draft electoral roll prepared during Bihar’s special intensive revision (SIR) exercise can still be submitted after 1 September — but these will only be taken into account once the electoral roll is finalised.

A bench comprising justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi acknowledged the Election Commission's statement that such claims and objections may be made up to the last date for submitting nomination forms in each assembly constituency.

Describing the confusion around the Bihar SIR as “largely [a] trust issue” the Supreme Court directed the state legal service authority to assign paralegal volunteers to support voters and political parties in submitting claims and objections regarding the draft roll, which was released on 1 August.

To this, Prashant Bhushan — on behalf of the petitioners — said the issue was rather one of transparency; his opposing counsel for the ECI claimed it was one of “mindset”, however.

Senior advocate Rakesh Dwivedi, representing the ECI, however said, “Any extension of deadline will lead to disruption of the entire exercise and finalisation of final electoral roll.”

The Election Commission also asserted that 99.5 per cent of the 2.74 crore entries in the draft electronic roll had relevant eligibility documentation submitted, refuting the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD)’s claim of submitting 36 objections; the EC maintained only 10 claims were filed by the party.

Notably, the Congress, the largest Opposition party, claims it has submitted 89 lakh complaints to the ECI during the SIR — all of which have been rejected.

'Congress submitted 89 lakh complaints to ECI during SIR, all rejected'

However, Dwivedi further claimed “the 36 claims that RJD party mentioned in its petition had also been 'duly accepted'.”

The Commission further informed the court that it will issue notifications within seven days to electors with incomplete documentation, describing the SIR as a “continuing exercise”.

The ECI also claims that most submissions from political parties involved requests for exclusion, not inclusion, of names from voter rolls.

The bench instructed paralegal volunteers to submit confidential status reports to the district judges concerned, which would be reviewed on 8 September.

The bench also stated that the value of the Aadhaar as a document, as denoted in the statute and orders of the Supreme Court, has to be accepted by the ECI. Justice Kant said the ECI must admit Aadhaar cards as ID during the claims collection and review period. However, Bhushan pointed out that the Court urged acceptance of Aadhaar as an identifying document only on 22 August, so voters are left with a great “paucity of time” now.  

Both the RJD and the AIMIM, amongst the petitioners representing political parties, have requested that the deadline to lodge claims and objections under the ongoing poll roll revision in election-bound Bihar be extended.

“The period of filing claims expires on 1 September 2025. Unless extended, genuine electors whose names have been erroneously deleted by the ECI will not be able to submit their claims and consequently will be barred from exercising their right to vote in the coming elections,” the RJD has warned.

Today marked the final day for filing claims or objections for including or excluding names from the draft electoral roll.

So, the question remains — even if further objections and claims are filed and accepted, what is their fate vis-a-vis the Bihar assembly elections ahead?

‘They fear losing Bihar, and the domino effect’