The Supreme Court of India has directed the Election Commission (EC) to allow voters, whose names were deleted during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral roll in Bihar, to submit their claims online. The court has instructed that Aadhaar cards or any other acceptable documents should be recognized for this purpose. The directive aims to facilitate re-enrollment of voters affected by the large-scale deletions observed during the revision process.

The court expressed concern over the lack of initiative from political parties in addressing the issue of deleted voters. It ordered all 12 political parties in Bihar to instruct their local workers to assist affected individuals in filling out and submitting Form 6 with any of the 11 approved documents, including Aadhaar.

In its observation, the Supreme Court noted with surprise that despite over 65 lakh deletions, political parties have only filed two objections through their booth-level agents. This was in contrast to the Election Commission’s update that 85,000 new voters have registered under the SIR in Bihar.

Previously, the Court had directed the EC to publish a district-wise searchable list of all deleted voters on its website and issue a public notification stating that Aadhaar cards can be submitted by those seeking re-enrollment. On July 29, the apex court had refused to stay the drafting process of the voter rolls but assured intervention in case of widespread exclusion. It had also asked the EC to treat Aadhaar and Election Photo Identity Cards (EPIC) as valid supporting documents.