SC Warns Of Scrapping Bihar Voter Roll Overhaul By Sept If Illegality Proven, Reaffirms EC’s Power To Bar Non-Citizens

New Delhi, August 12 (TNA) The Supreme Court on Tuesday said Bihar’s ongoing special intensive revision of electoral rolls can be set aside—even as late as September, roughly two months before the expected Assembly election—if illegality in the process is proven, while clarifying that excluding non-citizens from voter lists falls within the Election Commission’s remit, though determining citizenship is the Union government’s domain.

Court’s key observations

A Bench of Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi, hearing multiple pleas against the Election Commission of India’s (ECI) exercise, underlined that inclusion and exclusion on electoral rolls is the Commission’s responsibility, whereas citizenship determination lies with the Union Home Ministry, and signalled that the entire revision could be nullified if illegality is established close to polls in September .

The Court had earlier declined to stay the revision, emphasising readiness to intervene in case of mass exclusion and urging consideration of widely held documents to prevent disenfranchisement near elections .

Petitioners’ challenge

Senior advocates, including Abhishek Singhvi and Kapil Sibal, argued the ECI lacks authority to adjudicate citizenship and that the revision improperly shifts the burden of proving citizenship onto crores of voters, risking mass disenfranchisement before polls.

Citing reports of around 65 lakh names missing from the August 1 draft rolls, petitioners sought transparency on reasons for non-inclusion and warned that the timing and documentation demands could force eligible voters into appeals, effectively denying them the franchise in the upcoming election.