New Delhi, August 13, 2025 — The Supreme Court has described the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar as “voter friendly,” citing the inclusion of 11 acceptable documents for voter verification, compared to just seven in the previous summary revision. The observation came during hearings on petitions challenging the Election Commission’s June 24 decision to conduct the SIR in poll-bound Bihar.
A bench comprising Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi noted that while petitioners argued the non-acceptance of Aadhaar was exclusionary, the broader list of documents was “actually inclusionary.” The court emphasized that electors are required to submit any one of the 11 listed documents, which were curated based on feedback from various government departments to ensure maximum coverage.
Senior advocate Abhishek Singhvi, representing the petitioners, contended that despite the higher number of documents, their actual availability among the population was limited. He cited low passport ownership and the absence of permanent resident certificates in Bihar. However, the bench responded that the presence of 36 lakh passport holders in the state indicated reasonable coverage.
The Supreme Court also reaffirmed the Election Commission’s authority to determine the inclusion or exclusion of individuals from electoral rolls, backing its decision to not treat Aadhaar or voter ID cards as conclusive proof of citizenship.
As the debate over the SIR continues both in court and in Parliament, the top court remarked that the issue reflects a “trust deficit” rather than a procedural flaw, noting that nearly 6.5 crore of Bihar’s 7.9 crore voters already feature in the 2003 electoral rolls and do not need to submit fresh documents.
