Indian Election Commission caught in a cleft stick between Supreme Court and government on electoral roll    

By P.K.Balachandran/Counterpoint

Colombo, July 30 -The Election Commission of India (ECI) is caught in a cleft stick between the Supreme Court and the government on the issue of exclusion from the voters’ list ahead of the November 2025 elections to the Bihar State Assembly.

The government may insist that the ECI adheres to the parameters set for the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral roll. But the Supreme Court had asked the ECI to consider including the Aadhaar and Voter Identity Cards for determining eligibility for inclusion in the voters’ list, documents which the government and ECI consider insufficient for proving citizenship.

With petitioners in the court estimating that about 940,000 voters in Bihar will be facing disenfranchisement as a result of the SIR, the Supreme Court had warned the ECI that it would “step in if mass exclusion takes place”. The court said on Tuesday that the ECI is a constitutional body that   has to abide by the law.

The ECI is to release the provisional electoral roll on August 1.

The Supreme Court bench, comprising Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi, asked the petitioners to file their written submissions by August 8 and stated that hearings will take place on August 12 and August 13.

Earlier on Monday, the court reiterated its demand that the ECI accept the Aadhaar and Voter Identity Cards as admissible documents. But the ECI argued that the Aaadhar, Voter ID and Ration Cards could not be proof of “citizenship” a basic condition for voting. The court’s answer to this was that while Ration Cards could be forged easily, Aadhaar and Voter ID Cards had “some sanctity” and had the presumption of genuineness.

“You continue accepting these documents,” the court added.

940,000 Could Face Exclusion

According to one of the petitioners, Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), about 940,000 out of the 76 million electorate in Bihar are likely to lose their right to vote as they had not been counted in the SIR either due to their absence from Bihar or because they had not submitted any of the 11 documents needed to be given as proof of eligibility.

The ECI had itself said that more than 640,000 could lose the vote due to death and non-availability at the time of the SIR. More than 7% of Bihar’s population, mostly labourers, are generally out of the State for employment and may not have been present during the survey.

11 Documents

Given the socio-economic conditions in Bihar, most would not have any of these 11 documents, which are as follows – (1) An Identity card/Pension Payment Order issued to regular employees of any government organization or semi-government body; (2) Any Identity Card/Certificate/Document issued in India by Banks/ Post Office prior to 01.07.1987; (3) Birth Certificate issued by the local competent authority;  (4) Birth Certificates of the father and mother, if alive; (5) Passport;(6) Matriculation Certificate;(7) Residence or Domicile certificate issued by competent State Authority: (8) Forest Right Certificate given to forest tribes; (9) Caste certificate issued by the Competent authority; (10) Family Register prepared by State or Local authorities; (11) Land/house allotment certificate given by the government.

As per the Bihar Caste Survey 2022, only 1.57% of the State’s population was in government or para State services. In 2000, the year from which the Registrar General of India began recording data, Bihar had registered only 3.7% of the estimated births that year. The total number of passports issued in Bihar till 2023 covered only 2% of the population.

As per Bihar Caste Survey 2022, only 14.71% of the State were matriculates. According to the Ministry of Tribal Affairs, as on June 1, 2025, Bihar had received only 4,696 claims under the Forest Rights Act and just 191 claims were admitted. There is no data available on castes. As per the Socio Economic & Caste Census 2011, 65.58% of rural households in Bihar did not own any land.

Therefore, making these documents mandatory to get the vote is tantamount to disenfranchising millions, the petitioners and human rights activists said.   

Detecting Illegal Immigrants

According to ECI, SIR is also meant to weed out non-citizens, who are generally thought to be illegal migrants from Bangladesh and Nepal. But the Supreme Court told the ECI that is not the task of the ECI to check on citizenship as it is the job of the Central Home Ministry. But the ECI argued that non-citizens have to be weeded out because only citizens can vote.

The ECI had instructed the Booth Level Officers (BLO) conducting the SIR to flag “cases of suspected foreign nationality” under the Citizenship Act”.

Therefore, a person not having any of the 11 documents listed would well be suspected to be an illegal immigrant, detained in a special camp and deported or pushed across the border.  Bengali-speaking Muslim voters, specially, could be under threat of detention and deportation to Bangladesh.   

Flawed Data Collection  

Social activist Yogendra Yadav and YouTuber Ajit Anjum have exposed the fraudulent ways in which the ECI has been collecting data.

As per the ECI’s directions, every Booth Level Officer (BLO) should visit each household and distribute the Enumeration Form in duplicate with pre-printed details of the existing electors from the household. The BLO is also supposed to visit each household twice.

But the BLOs did not do so, and could not do so, given the impossible deadlines and people were given only one form and not two, Yadav said.  

Video journalist Ajit Anjum released a number of reports exposing  the SIR’s biggest fraud, namely, enumeration forms being filled-in by the BLO without the voter’s consent or even knowledge. At least 25% of the total forms filled-in could belong to this fraudulent category, Yadav alleges.

Many forms were submitted without attaching any document. The ECI said that documents could be submitted later. But till they are submitted and accepted, the individual concerned cannot vote.  

Observers point to the unscientific method adopted by the ECI and charge that the ECI’s intention is to manipulate the electoral roll to suit the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). And since it is the poor who may not have any of the 11 documents, the weaker sections of society will form the bulk of the disenfranchised.    

Petitioners in the Supreme Court said that to deny the right to vote would be a violation of the Representation of Peoples Act, 1950 and the Registration of Electors Rules 1960. Since Universal Adult Franchise is a fundamental principle of the Indian constitution, disenfranchising people on a mass scale would be unconstitutional.

The Leader of Opposition in the lower house of parliament, Congress party MP Rahul Gandhi, alleged that the EC is attempting to steal votes in Bihar as it did earlier in elections in Maharashtra and Karnataka. 

“In Bihar, the right to vote is under threat – an old conspiracy in a new form. There is a pattern here – new votes are being added while existing voters are being removed in one constituency after another,” Rahul Gandhi charged.

The Trinamool Congress chief and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerji has said that she would not allow SIR in West Bengal. In Manipur, the local BJP has demanded that the SIR not be done in their State.   

Tejaswi Yadav leader of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) has proposed that the opposition parties boycott the Bihar elections.

END 

By P.K.Balachandran/Counterpoint

Colombo, July 30 -The Election Commission of India (ECI) is caught in a cleft stick between the Supreme Court and the government on the issue of exclusion from the voters’ list ahead of the November 2025 elections to the Bihar State Assembly.

The government may insist that the ECI adheres to the parameters set for the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral roll. But the Supreme Court had asked the ECI to consider including the Aadhaar and Voter Identity Cards for determining eligibility for inclusion in the voters’ list, documents which the government and ECI consider insufficient for proving citizenship.

With petitioners in the court estimating that about 940,000 voters in Bihar will be facing disenfranchisement as a result of the SIR, the Supreme Court had warned the ECI that it would “step in if mass exclusion takes place”. The court said on Tuesday that the ECI is a constitutional body that   has to abide by the law.

The ECI is to release the provisional electoral roll on August 1.

The Supreme Court bench, comprising Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi, asked the petitioners to file their written submissions by August 8 and stated that hearings will take place on August 12 and August 13.

Earlier on Monday, the court reiterated its demand that the ECI accept the Aadhaar and Voter Identity Cards as admissible documents. But the ECI argued that the Aaadhar, Voter ID and Ration Cards could not be proof of “citizenship” a basic condition for voting. The court’s answer to this was that while Ration Cards could be forged easily, Aadhaar and Voter ID Cards had “some sanctity” and had the presumption of genuineness.

“You continue accepting these documents,” the court added.

940,000 Could Face Exclusion

According to one of the petitioners, Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), about 940,000 out of the 76 million electorate in Bihar are likely to lose their right to vote as they had not been counted in the SIR either due to their absence from Bihar or because they had not submitted any of the 11 documents needed to be given as proof of eligibility.

The ECI had itself said that more than 640,000 could lose the vote due to death and non-availability at the time of the SIR. More than 7% of Bihar’s population, mostly labourers, are generally out of the State for employment and may not have been present during the survey.

11 Documents

Given the socio-economic conditions in Bihar, most would not have any of these 11 documents, which are as follows – (1) An Identity card/Pension Payment Order issued to regular employees of any government organization or semi-government body; (2) Any Identity Card/Certificate/Document issued in India by Banks/ Post Office prior to 01.07.1987; (3) Birth Certificate issued by the local competent authority;  (4) Birth Certificates of the father and mother, if alive; (5) Passport;(6) Matriculation Certificate;(7) Residence or Domicile certificate issued by competent State Authority: (8) Forest Right Certificate given to forest tribes; (9) Caste certificate issued by the Competent authority; (10) Family Register prepared by State or Local authorities; (11) Land/house allotment certificate given by the government.

As per the Bihar Caste Survey 2022, only 1.57% of the State’s population was in government or para State services. In 2000, the year from which the Registrar General of India began recording data, Bihar had registered only 3.7% of the estimated births that year. The total number of passports issued in Bihar till 2023 covered only 2% of the population.

As per Bihar Caste Survey 2022, only 14.71% of the State were matriculates. According to the Ministry of Tribal Affairs, as on June 1, 2025, Bihar had received only 4,696 claims under the Forest Rights Act and just 191 claims were admitted. There is no data available on castes. As per the Socio Economic & Caste Census 2011, 65.58% of rural households in Bihar did not own any land.

Therefore, making these documents mandatory to get the vote is tantamount to disenfranchising millions, the petitioners and human rights activists said.   

Detecting Illegal Immigrants

According to ECI, SIR is also meant to weed out non-citizens, who are generally thought to be illegal migrants from Bangladesh and Nepal. But the Supreme Court told the ECI that is not the task of the ECI to check on citizenship as it is the job of the Central Home Ministry. But the ECI argued that non-citizens have to be weeded out because only citizens can vote.

The ECI had instructed the Booth Level Officers (BLO) conducting the SIR to flag “cases of suspected foreign nationality” under the Citizenship Act”.

Therefore, a person not having any of the 11 documents listed would well be suspected to be an illegal immigrant, detained in a special camp and deported or pushed across the border.  Bengali-speaking Muslim voters, specially, could be under threat of detention and deportation to Bangladesh.   

Flawed Data Collection  

Social activist Yogendra Yadav and YouTuber Ajit Anjum have exposed the fraudulent ways in which the ECI has been collecting data.

As per the ECI’s directions, every Booth Level Officer (BLO) should visit each household and distribute the Enumeration Form in duplicate with pre-printed details of the existing electors from the household. The BLO is also supposed to visit each household twice.

But the BLOs did not do so, and could not do so, given the impossible deadlines and people were given only one form and not two, Yadav said.  

Video journalist Ajit Anjum released a number of reports exposing  the SIR’s biggest fraud, namely, enumeration forms being filled-in by the BLO without the voter’s consent or even knowledge. At least 25% of the total forms filled-in could belong to this fraudulent category, Yadav alleges.

Many forms were submitted without attaching any document. The ECI said that documents could be submitted later. But till they are submitted and accepted, the individual concerned cannot vote.  

Observers point to the unscientific method adopted by the ECI and charge that the ECI’s intention is to manipulate the electoral roll to suit the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). And since it is the poor who may not have any of the 11 documents, the weaker sections of society will form the bulk of the disenfranchised.    

Petitioners in the Supreme Court said that to deny the right to vote would be a violation of the Representation of Peoples Act, 1950 and the Registration of Electors Rules 1960. Since Universal Adult Franchise is a fundamental principle of the Indian constitution, disenfranchising people on a mass scale would be unconstitutional.

The Leader of Opposition in the lower house of parliament, Congress party MP Rahul Gandhi, alleged that the EC is attempting to steal votes in Bihar as it did earlier in elections in Maharashtra and Karnataka. 

“In Bihar, the right to vote is under threat – an old conspiracy in a new form. There is a pattern here – new votes are being added while existing voters are being removed in one constituency after another,” Rahul Gandhi charged.

The Trinamool Congress chief and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerji has said that she would not allow SIR in West Bengal. In Manipur, the local BJP has demanded that the SIR not be done in their State.   

Tejaswi Yadav leader of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) has proposed that the opposition parties boycott the Bihar elections.

END 

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