July 10, 2025: In advance of Bihar's Assembly elections in October and November 2025, the Supreme Court asked the Election Commission to consider including Aadhaar, Voter I-Card, and Ration Card as documents for Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls. “In our prima facie opinion, in the interest of justice, the Election Commission will also include these documents. Aadhaar, Ration card and EPIC card,” a Bench of Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia and Justice Joymalya Bagchi said, allowing the poll panel to go ahead with the exercise.
As senior counsel Rakesh Dwivedi insisted on behalf of the EC that Aadhaar wasn't a “proof of citizenship”, the Bench clarified that it’s for the EC to decide if it wanted to take these documents or not and if it didn’t, then it has to give reasons for the same.
The petitioners didn’t press for a stay on the process for Special Intensive Revision of Electoral Rolls in Bihar.
The EC had nothing to do with citizenship of a person and it was the Ministry of Home Affairs' domain, it said.
Referring to Article 326 of the Constitution, Dwivedi said every voter has to be an Indian citizen and “Aadhaar card is not proof of citizenship”.
“If you are to check citizenship under SIR of electoral rolls in Bihar, then you should have acted early; it is a bit late,” said the Bench.
Asking the Election Commission to respond to the petition within a week from today, the Bench said the petitioners should file their rejoinders, if any, before July 228, 2025 – the next date of hearing.
Noting that the petitions raised issues relating to the EC’s powers to conduct special intensive revision of electoral rolls, the procedure to exercise these powers; and the timeline – which is very short and due in November, the Bench said, “We are of the considered view that the matter needs hearing before an appropriate court on 28th July 2025.”
While rejecting the petitioners’ argument that the EC did not have any powers to carry out Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, the top court questioned the poll panel on the timing of the revision in poll-bound Bihar, saying it went to the “root of democracy and the right to vote”.
Earlier, senior advocates Gopal Sankaranarayanan, Kapil Sibal and AM Singhvi questioned the timing of the SIR of electoral rolls on behalf of the petitioners.
The entire SIR will cover around 7.9 crore citizens and even the voter ID and Aadhaar cards were not being considered, Sankaranarayanan submitted.
The EC had on June 24 ordered an SIR in Bihar --- first since 2003 --- to weed out ineligible individuals and ensure only eligible citizens were included in the electoral rolls. According to the report, the exercise was required as a result of rapid urbanization, frequent migration, the eligibility of young citizens to vote, the non-reporting of deaths, and the inclusion of the names of foreign illegal immigrants. The EC has clarified that while voters were required to “submit their documents any time before July 25, 2025”, those who failed to do so would get an opportunity “during the Claims & Objections period also”.
It has urged people to “beware of statements being made by a few persons, who without reading the SIR order dated 24 June 2025.... are attempting to confuse the public with their incorrect and misleading statements”.
More than 10 petitions, including those by the 'Association for Democratic Reforms' and the People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), have been filed in the top court against Special Intensive Revision of Electoral Rolls in poll-bound Bihar.