'Timing and not exercise is the problem': Supreme Court on Election Commission's voter list revision drive in Bihar

New Delhi/IBNS: The Supreme Court on Thursday said the timing of the Election Commission of India (ECI)'s voter list revision drive in poll-bound Bihar "is the problem" but not the exercise in itself, media reports said.
Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia said as quoted by NDTV, "Your exercise is not the problem... it is the timing."
Justice Dhulia noted that individuals who might be excluded from the list after the revision will have no time to appeal against their exclusion before the state elections.
"There is nothing wrong in the exercise... except that a person will be disenfranchised ahead of the election and s/he won't have the time to defend the exclusion before voting," the judge added.
While the petitioners questioned the EC's move to ask for a government ID from existing voters who registered after 2003, the court found the cut-off date "logical".
The petitioners pointed out that the EC won't allow its own voter card or widely-used Aadhaar Card for verification for individuals registered after 2003.
Among the petitioners are Rashtriya Janata Dal MP Manoj Jha, Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra, activist Yogendra Yadav.
The ECI has launched a Special Intensive Revision as a drive to verify the list of voters, adding names of eligible citizens and trashing the ineligibles.
The poll body said its Booth Level Officers will conduct a door-to-door survey to verify the voters seeing necessary documents.
The opposition parties have lashed out at the ECI over the drive, which the Opposition claims will exclude many genuine voters.
Congress national president Mallikarjun Kharge slammed the country's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) saying, "Why are people who have been voting election after election being asked to show documents for voting?"
"Forcibly depriving the poor, weak, deprived, Dalit, oppressed, and backward people of their voting rights is the very conspiracy of BJP-RSS. Nearly 8 crore people will suffer because of this. The responsibility to correct the voter list lies with the ECI, not the public."
भाजपा ने चुनाव आयोग के सहयोग से, बिहार में करोड़ों लोगों का वोटिंग का अधिकार छीनने का जो मास्टर प्लॉन बनाया था, उसमें अब भाजपा खुद फँसती नज़र आ रही है।
— Mallikarjun Kharge (@kharge) July 6, 2025
पहले दिन से ही, कांग्रेस पार्टी Special Intensive Revision of Electoral Rolls (SIR) के ख़िलाफ़ आवाज़ उठा रही है।
जो लोग… pic.twitter.com/wtfbEDZWOx
RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav claimed the BJP is sure of a defeat in the upcoming Bihar assembly elections so it conspired with the ECI to snatch away voters' rights.
The former Bihar Deputy Chief Minister wrote on X, "Modi-Nitish are determined to crush the Constitution and democracy and to snatch your voting rights through the Election Commission. These people, seeing a direct defeat, have now become frantic. When the voter's vote itself is eliminated, what democracy and Constitution will remain?"
बिहार में वोटबंदी की गहरी साजिश।
— Tejashwi Yadav (@yadavtejashwi) July 7, 2025
दलित-पिछड़ा-अतिपिछड़ा और अल्पसंख्यक के वोट काटने और फर्जी वोट जोड़ने का खेल शुरू।
मोदी-नीतीश संविधान और लोकतंत्र को कुचलने तथा आपके मत का अधिकार छिनने के लिए संकल्पित होकर चुनाव आयोग के माध्यम से कार्य कर रहे है। ये लोग प्रत्यक्ष हार देखकर अब… pic.twitter.com/SDsgMVNVhw
The Bihar polls are expected to be held in the last quarter of the current year.