Bihar Election Commission challenge has been filed in the Supreme Court by politicians and NGOs. The People’s Union for Civil Liberties, Yogendra Yadav and Mohua Moitra have filed a writ petition with the Supreme Court challenging the Election Commission of India’s (ECI) directions to conduct Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in the State of Bihar.
Petitions filed by activist Yogendra Yadav, co – founder of Swaraj India and the Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Mohua Moitra have also contested the Election Commission’s directions by citing violations of the constitution in the Supreme Court and the Representation of People’s Act, 1950. A plea by the NGO Association for Democratic Reforms has also moved a petition raising concerns over the ECI’s steps that can “disenfranchise” lakhs of voters.
The directions issued by the ECI on 24 June 2025 are intended to maintain the integrity of the Electoral Roll (ER) by revising the list as per the guidelines of the Commission. Voters whose names do not figure in the 2003 ERs will have to submit proofs attesting their citizenship.
A Special Summary Revision, an exercise of similar kind was carried out in Bihar six months ago which involved adding, removing and modifying names in the ER. The digitalization of the ER post 2003 elections had rendered the exercise ineffective. The move to revive the procedure has attracted hue and cry from politicians and activists that have been calling this a subtle sneaking in of the National Registers of Citizens (NRC), currently operative in Assam to address the issue of illegal immigrants arriving from Bangladesh and neighbouring countries.
The PUCL, a voluntary human rights organisation is notable for its litigation in strengthening voter participation and democracy. In a writ petition filed by it, the Supreme Court held that elections are free and fair choices by voters between possible candidates to fill a seat. Persons who choose to vote NOTA do not attract legal consequences and must be protected in the same manner a person who chooses to vote for a political party is.
Bihar is reported to be facing large – scale illegal immigration among states in the North East. The Election Commission has a legal mandate to revise the electoral roll through intensive summary revisions that is necessary to uphold transparency. The opposition’s concerns rests largely on suspected ulterior political motives in light of upcoming Bihar legislative assembly elections and the potential disenfranchisement of lakhs.
