The Election Commission, while justifying the special intensive revision (SIR) of the voter list in Bihar, has said that it increases the purity of elections by removing unqualified persons from the list.
Starting from Bihar, the instructions of SIR of voter list across India were given on June 24. Regarding the petition challenging this directive, the affidavit filed by the Election Commission said that despite legal concerns, the Commission is already considering Aadhaar, voter card and ration card for limited objective of identity during the SIR-2025 process.
The Commission said in a detailed affidavit, ‘The SIR process increases the purity of elections by removing ineligible persons from the voter list. The right to vote is obtained from sections 16 and 19 of the Public Representation Act 1950 and Article 326 and Section 62 of the Representation of the Public Representation Act 1951 which talks about some eligibility regarding citizenship, age and general residence. An ineligible person has no right to vote and hence he cannot claim violations of Article 19 and 21 in this regard.
The affidavit cited the Supreme Court’s order on July 17, asking the Election Commission to consider Aadhaar, voter and ration card for SIR-2025. It said, “..The augus is already considering these documents for a limited purpose of identity during the SIR process.”
The ECI said, ‘The observation of the calculation form issued under the SIR order shows that the person filling the calculation form can voluntarily give the Aadhaar number. Such information is used for the purpose of identification according to Section 23 (4) of the Public Representation Act, 1950 and Section Nine of Aadhaar (Financial and Other Subsidy, Benefits and Services) Act, 2016.
Section 23 (4) of the Public Representation Act, 1950 provides that the Election Registration Officer can ask for the Aadhaar (Financial and Other Subsidy, Benefit and Limited Distribution of Services) Act, 2016 for the purpose of establishing the identity of a person, as per the provisions of the Act, 2016, the person can ask the person the Aadhaar number issued by the Unique Identification Authority of India.
Also, Section Nine of the 2016 Act says that Aadhaar number is not proof of citizenship or residence etc. The Election Commission said that except for temporarily absent migrants from Bihar, every existing voter is provided by booth level officers (BLOs) to their homes and their calculations.
He said, ‘Every existing voter gets equal opportunity to provide all documents including eligibility proof to the BLO at his residence. … The same method has been adopted in all the previous SIRs. In addition, BLO, BLA (booth level agent) and volunteers are actively assisting to receive eligibility documents to all real voters who require help. ‘
The Commission told the court that till July 18, the calculations from 7,89,69,844 existing voters in Bihar have already been collected from 7,11,72,660 voters (90.12 percent).
It said, ‘Keeping in mind the dead persons, permanently transferred voters and people registered in more than one place, 94.68 percent of about 7.9 crore voters in Bihar have been effectively covered during the form collection phase of SIR. Despite the BLO going home several times, the voters who have not been detected are only 0.01 percent of the total voters. By eighteen July, 2025, only 5.2 percent of the voters are remaining to submit the form before the time limit of 25 July.