Election Commission filed affidavit in Supreme Court regarding Bihar voter revision, know…

New Delhi. The Election Commission of India (ECI) has filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court saying that false rumours are being deliberately spread about the “Special Intensive Revision” (SIR) i.e. special intensive voter list correction process going on in Bihar. The Commission has said that the petitions challenging this process have been filed prematurely and there is no need to consider them at present.

The ECI said that the petitions on the basis of which the case has been brought to the court are based only on newspaper reports, which cannot be considered as reliable evidence. The Commission also alleged that the petitioners have hidden many important facts, such as their own parties are participating in this process and cooperating through Booth Level Agents (BLA).

In its affidavit, the Commission has cited the powers conferred under Article 324 of the Constitution and argued that the entire process was conducted in a consistent and jurisdictional manner. Apart from this, Section 21 (3) of the Representation of the People Act has also been cited.

In response to the court’s question on the time limit, the Commission has said that more than 90 percent of the counting forms were submitted ten days before the Commission’s deadline for SIR. Since more than one lakh booth level officers and more than one and a half lakh booth level agents along with about one lakh volunteers are engaged in this work, more than 96 percent of the work of filling and submitting the forms has been completed with four days left.

‘Some people are presenting it in a wrong way…’
The Election Commission said in the court that the purpose of the SIR process is to ensure that no ineligible person is included in the voter list and no eligible person is left out. The Commission said that some people are presenting this process in a wrong way, so that its image can be tarnished.

The ECI said that the figures presented by the petitioners are old and do not reflect the current situation. According to them, the petitioners have deliberately hidden the fact from the court that the reports they have are incomplete and based on old figures. Apart from this, the Commission also told that the political parties from which the petitioners come are also participating in this process and cooperating with the ECI. In such a situation, not telling this fact before the court is like deliberately hiding information.

The Election Commission has also discussed its rights. It said that the power to decide whether a person is an Indian citizen has been given to the ECI under Articles 324 and 326 of the Constitution. The Commission clarified that even the laws made by the Parliament cannot abolish these rights.

The ECI also clarified that the Aadhar card has not been included in the list of 11 documents that have been sought to register the name in the voter list, because Aadhar alone does not confirm citizenship. But Aadhar can help in combination with other documents.

7.11 people jammed the forms
So far, out of a total of 7.89 crore voters in Bihar, about 7.11 crore people have submitted the forms. This number is 90.12% of the total voters. Including those who have died, shifted to another place and people whose names are registered in two places, this coverage has reached 94.68%. There are only 0.01% people who could not be found even after several attempts. As of July 18, 2025, only 5.2% voters are left who have not filled the form yet.

The ECI also said that people whose names are already in the 2003 voter list have already gone through the verification process, so they do not need to submit documents again like new people.

The Election Commission claimed that for the first time all political parties are participating in this process on such a large scale and they have appointed more than 1.5 lakh booth level agents, who are working in collaboration with booth officers. Those who are saying that asking for citizenship related information in the voter declaration form is a violation of Article 326 of the Constitution, ECI said they are wrong.

The Commission says that asking for citizenship related information is completely legal because it is according to Section 3 of the Citizenship Act 1955. ECI said that in the process of adding names to the voter list, no discrimination is being made with any person on the basis of caste, religion, gender or race. All eligible people are being given equal opportunity.

The Election Commission told the Supreme Court that every existing voter has been given a pre-filled form at home and necessary documents have been sought from them. No discrimination or difficulty has been made with anyone.