Supreme Court Upholds Bihar Voter Roll Revision, Says EC Acted Within Its Powers
The Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld the validity of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls conducted in Bihar, backing the authority of the Election Commission of India to carry out the exercise in the interest of fair elections.
A bench led by Chief Justice Surya Kant ruled that the SIR process could not be treated as merely an “administrative convenience” and said the Election Commission had acted within its constitutional and statutory powers.
The court observed that large-scale migration, rapid urbanisation, and demographic changes were valid reasons for revising voter rolls through a special exercise. It also clarified that the SIR could not be termed illegal simply because it differed from the routine process of electoral roll revision.
The petitions challenging the exercise, including one filed by Association for Democratic Reforms, had argued that the Election Commission lacked the authority under Article 326 of the Constitution and the Representation of the People Act to conduct such a large-scale revision.
Reacting to the verdict, Manoj Kumar Jha said the concern was never about challenging the powers of the Election Commission but about the possibility of “exclusion instead of inclusion” in the voter verification process. He added that the detailed judgment would be studied further.
The verdict is being seen as a significant win for the Election Commission, especially as debates around voter roll verification and electoral transparency continue ahead of upcoming elections.
News source: Information for this article was gathered from a variety of reliable news outlets.
