The Supreme Court has agreed to examine pleas from the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and the All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul-Muslimeen seeking an extension of the deadline for filing claims and objections in Bihar’s ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.
Currently, the process is set to end on September 1, but both parties have urged for more time, pointing to the sharp increase in claims being filed.
Case To Be Heard On September 8
A bench of Justices Surya Kant, Joymalya Bagchi, and Vipul M Pancholi said the applications will be heard on September 8.
“List all the interlocutory applications along with the main matter on September 8,” the bench ordered.
Appearing for the RJD, advocates Prashant Bhushan and Shoeb Alam noted that several political groups were facing similar issues and had filed requests for more time. Advocate Nizam Pasha, representing AIMIM, argued that the steep rise in applications made an extension necessary.
“The number of claims filed are exponentially rising. The deadline needs to be extended,” Alam told the court.
Surge In Applications After Court’s Order
Statistics presented to the bench show a dramatic surge in applications. Between August 1 and 22, voters submitted around 84,307 claims and objections. However, in just five days after the Supreme Court’s August 22 order—which allowed Aadhaar as valid ID proof and enabled online submission—the number shot up by another 94,694, taking the total to nearly 1.8 lakh claims.
RJD’s Concerns
The RJD’s plea, filed through advocate Fauzia Shakil, said that the party had appointed Booth Level Agents (BLAs) in more than 47,500 polling booths across the state to assist voters. However, it alleged that many claims collected with Aadhaar details were not reflected in the Election Commission’s daily updates, giving the impression that party workers were not cooperating.
The party also accused officials in some districts of refusing to accept Aadhaar despite the court’s order, instead demanding additional documents listed in an earlier EC directive. Calling this a violation of the court’s ruling, the RJD sought a two-week extension, until September 15, for the process.
The AIMIM, led by Akhtarul Iman in Bihar, requested a four-week extension, arguing that the surge in claims proved voters had become more aware of being excluded and deserved more time to ensure their names were restored.
Background
The voter list revision is Bihar’s first since 2003 and has already triggered political debate. The SIR exercise reduced the state’s total registered voters from 7.9 crore to 7.24 crore, with nearly 65 lakh names deleted.
Earlier, on August 14, the top court had asked the Election Commission to publish the names of excluded voters to improve transparency and ensure no legitimate voter was wrongly denied their rights.
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