- By Shubham Bajpai
- Sun, 06 Jul 2025 08:14 PM (IST)
- Source:JND
Bihar Electoral Roll Revision: The feud over the Election Commission's electoral roll revision exercise in Bihar ahead of assembly elections has further intensified as Rashtriya Janata Dal, the prime opposition party in the state, has challenged the exercise in the Supreme Court.
This came after Trinamool Congress's Mahua Moitra, activist Yogendra Yadav, PUCL and the Association for Democratic Reforms had already reached the top court challenging the same.
From RJD, Rajya Sabha MP Manoj Jha has filed the petition, and senior advocate Kapil Sibal will represent him in the court. Sibal has requested the court for an early hearing on Monday. They opposition fears that the exercise will lead to mass-scale disenfranchisement of elligible voters. They have argued that the exercise violates the fundamental rights of citizens guaranteed by the Constitution, including, 14, 19(1)(a), 21, 325, and 328, along with provisions of Representation of People (RP) Act, 1950 and Registration of Electors (RER) Rules, 1960.
In her petition, TMC MP Moitra argued, "It is submitted that it is for the very first time in the country that such an exercise is being conducted by ECI, where electors whose names are already there in electoral rolls and who have already voted multiple times in are being asked to prove their eligibility."
Why EC wants to conduct SIR?
The SIR, according to the EC, is necessary to remove ineligible names from the voter list in Bihar. The poll body argued that the exercise is necessary due to rapid urbanisation, migration, the addition of younger citizens, unregistered deaths, and the inclusion of the names of foreign illegal immigrants.
According to a poll body press release, dated July 5, a total of 1,04,16 545 Enumeration Forms, which accounts for 13.19 per cent of the total of 7,89,69,844 (nearly 7.90 crore) electors in Bihar who are enrolled as of June 24, 2025, have been received.