Supreme Court assures action if draft electoral roll shows mass voter exclusion

The Election Commission assured that voters could raise objections and seek corrections until September 1. The court will take up the matter again on August 12 and 13.
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SHASHI SHEKHAR KASHYAP

The Supreme Court on Tuesday assured immediate intervention if the draft electoral roll, scheduled to be published on August 1 as part of the special intensive revision (SIR) conducted by the Election Commission of India, reveals “mass exclusion” of voters.

The statement by a bench of justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi came in response to a claim raised by Opposition parties and NGOs, including the Association for Democratic Rights, that a majority of 65 lakh people excluded from the proposed draft electoral roll are claimed to be either dead or permanently shifted elsewhere.

Exclusion fears

“Bring 15 people they [Election Commission] say are dead, but found alive… we will look into it,” Justice Bagchi addressed senior advocate Kapil Sibal and advocate Prashant Bhushan, for petitioners.

Justice Kant asked the petitioners to wait for the publication of the draft list on August 1, saying right now their apprehensions were speculative at best.

Correction window

Justice Bagchi reasoned that the draft roll would be prepared based on a list of voters assembled on January 7, 2025, following a special summary revision of the Bihar electoral roll. An EC affidavit in the apex court stated that voters in the existing January 2025 electoral roll would be included in the draft roll on August 1, provided they submitted their enumeration forms, with or without supporting documents.

“So, this January 2025 list would be the starting point. Your apprehension is that 65 lakh odd voters in the January 2025 list would not feature in the draft list of August 1. However, the EC schedule allows time for persons omitted from the draft roll to apply for corrections. This means that these voters are not new. They would only be seeking correction vis-a-vis the 2025 entry,” Justice Bagchi reasoned.

Senior advocate Rakesh Dwivedi, representing the Election Commission, stated that electors who were unable to appear on the draft roll had a further 31-day period, until September 1, 2025, to submit their claims and request corrections before the final roll was published on September 30, 2025.

At this point, Sibal and Bhushan said there was a complete lack of information from the Election Commission on whom they had identified as dead or shifted out. The details were not available to them.

“We do not have the list [of persons identified as dead or shifted out]. If they are not mentioned in the draft list on August 1, these people would not be able to object… At least, we must know who they are so that we can check,” Sibal spoke on behalf of the Opposition parties.

Full disclosure

Dwivedi said “all the lists” had been given to political parties. Details were advertised and posted on the website. Sibal sought a copy of the list of the dead. Dwivedi asked the petitioners to check the details on the website. 

“What website? We do not know who all have left and what enquiries you [EC] have made…” Sibal countered.

Justice Bagchi informed the petitioners that the draft roll, scheduled for August 1, would anyway include the names of those omitted as either deceased or permanently relocated.

Action assured

Justice Kant intervened to point out that the EC was a constitutional institution, and the presumption was that it would act “perfectly in accordance with the law”.

“The moment they deviate, we will definitely intervene… If someone omitted as dead comes and says, ‘I am very much alive’, we will intervene,” Justice Kant assured.

The court scheduled the next hearing for August 12 and 13, indicating that it would primarily address issues related to the draft electoral roll.

Published on July 29, 2025