New Delhi: The Supreme Court instructed the poll body today that the names of 65 lakh individuals who were struck from the Bihar voter list, along with the justification for their removal, must be posted on the Election Commission’s websites by Tuesday. The court further ruled that this list needs to be made public so that all voters can obtain it. In a significant decision, the court also stated that anyone whose names were mistakenly removed might file claims by presenting a copy of their Aadhaar cards. This is important since the exclusion of Aadhaar was mentioned as evidence in the petitions against the Special Intensive Revision, which claimed that many voters would be impacted.
The Election Commission has stated that 22 lakh of the 65 lakh names removed from the list had passed away, according to Justice Surya Kant, who is hearing petitions contesting the Special Intensive Revision of voter lists in poll-bound Bihar. “Why is it not being announced at the booth level if 22 lakh people have died? “We don’t want political parties to dictate citizens’ rights,” he said.
“We have heard the Election Commission of India for a brief period of time,” the bench stated in its ruling. The following actions are decided upon during the hearing: As a temporary measure, ECI will do the following: District-level websites will reveal a list of 65 lakh voters whose names were on the 2025 list but were left off of the draft list.
According to the order, the cause for removal from the draft roll must also be included on this list. “Vernacular language newspapers with the largest circulation should receive extensive attention, and Doordarshan and other channels should broadcast it as well. It stated that the notice must also be posted on the district election officer’s social media accounts, if they have any.
“A copy of their Aadhaar cards may be included with claims made by aggrieved parties. In order to facilitate manual access to the list, Justice Kant read out, “the booth-wise list of 65 lakh voters shall also be displayed on the noticeboard of all the panchayat bhawans and the Block development and panchayat offices.”
Justice Joymalya Bagchi had already inquired as to the number of voters whose names had been left off of the draft list created following the Special Intensive Revision. Speaking on behalf of the poll body, Senior Advocate Rakesh Dwivedi responded, “65 lakhs are not there, 22 lakhs are dead.”
Mr. Dwivedi emphasized that no names have been removed and that anyone who is still alive but has had their name removed from the list due to death may contact poll workers to get this fixed.
“We are requesting greater transparency. We are recommending that the complete data set be posted on the website in its place,” Justice Bagchi stated.
Political workers will hold opinions, according to Justice Kant, but “people must be able to independently check” their names online.
According to the criteria, the entire data set needs to be available online. “Anita Devi should know that if I go to this website, I will know how to get my name,” remarked Justice Kant. Additionally, the court ruled that this list must be searchable and accessible to anybody with their EPIC number. On August 22, the matter will be heard again.
