Bihar ECI-driven SIR Faces Opposition in Parliament, SC Allows Draft Publication by August 1

Amid adjournments through the day in both houses, similar to what happened in the last week, the Monsoon session of the Parliament on Monday July 28,2025 held back discussions on Special Intensive Revision (SIR) with the opposition-led protests accusing the ECI-driven SIR exercise in Bihar of ‘voter fraud’ and ‘disenfranchisement’.

The Rajya Sabha functioned for five minutes amid protests, while the Lok Sabha took up scheduled discussions on ‘Operation Sindoor’ and ‘terrorist attacks in Pahalgam’ for the next few hours.

The Election Commission of India (ECI)-SIR revision in Bihar, which began last month has become a political hot potato with the opposition alliance taking exception to the process accusing it of pre-election drama to delist voters from the present electoral roll, which was revised last in 2003.

The Supreme Court, today, refused to hear a batch of pleas challenging the decision of the Election Commission of India to carry out Special Intensive Revision of the electoral roll (also known as a Voter List or Electoral Register) in Bihar. The top court, however, has allowed a draft publication of the revised electoral roll by August 1. A Bench comprising Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi, who heard the matter, posted the case for July 29, 2025 to finalise the schedule for hearing.

The Assoication for Democratic Reforms (ADR) petitioned the Court against the ‘arbitrary’ nature of the SIR, which according to the marquee petitioner, violates Article 14, 19 and 21 of the Indian Constitution.

The Supreme Court asked the poll body to accept Aadhaar and voter ID for the SIR exercise in Bihar in accordance with the “presumption of genuineness” hearing held earlier.

The Parliament has witnessed consecutive adjournments due to the opposition-led protests over stalled discussions related to SIR, Operation Sindoor and terror attacks in Pahalgam.

The current SIR exercise is the flash point, involving the Government and the opposition getting into heated exchanges, both in the parliament and outside. The Congress-led opposition calls the entire exercise as an attempt to exclude genuine voters from the rolls, while the ECI has defended the SIR saying, it’s just another technical exercise to revise the electoral rolls in the light of deceased and missing persons, and migration of population since 2003, as well as inclusion of genuine voters into the rolls.

The EC, however, admitted non-submission of EFs (Enumeration Forms) and unwillingness on the part of the voters to fill in EFs, adding to 35 lakh voters flagged as ‘missing’.

The SIR exercise saw over 7.24 crore of Bihar’s 7.89 crore electors participate, a turnout rate of nearly 92%, according to EC officials.

With inputs from Times of India.