Two days to SIR hearing in SC: Anjali Bharadwaj has tough questions for EC

As the Supreme Court prepares to hear petitions challenging the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls on July 28, transparency activist Anjali Bharadwaj questions the legitimacy and secrecy surrounding the Election Commission of India’s (EC) decision-making process.

The EC has cited an "independent appraisal" as the basis for launching the SIR, starting with Bihar. However, this appraisal has not been made public, prompting concerns about transparency, legality, and voter disenfranchisement.

Nationwide rollout and affidavit claims

In an affidavit submitted to the Supreme Court, the EC has declared that the decision to initiate the SIR was based on an independent assessment that found the absence of intensive revisions for nearly two decades. The EC concluded that a nationwide revision was long overdue and began the process with Bihar, where elections are due in November.

The EC emphasized its constitutional duty to ensure the purity of electoral rolls, reporting that 64 lakh voters were removed and 99.8 per cent of electors had been covered. However, the EC has not provided public access to the appraisal it claims justifies this massive revision.

Also read: Bihar SIR ground report: BLOs speak on accusations, EC targets, challenges

Transparency demands and legal scrutiny

Bharadwaj highlighted that the EC’s affidavit confirms the revision is not limited to Bihar. It has already begun in Delhi, West Bengal, and other states, involving more than 99 crore Indian voters. She stated that such an expansive revision requires the ECI to provide detailed reasoning and ensure transparency by releasing the underlying appraisal.

She also criticized the timing and execution in Bihar—during monsoons and on a tight schedule—and the EC’s lack of clarity on why only specific documents were accepted for voter verification. These concerns were raised in a petition by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), which claimed that inadequate reasons had been offered for the hurried rollout.

Secretive terminology and procedural ambiguity

Bharadwaj and several experts pointed out that the term “special intensive revision” has no legal standing. The EC typically conducts summary, annual, or intensive revisions. The inclusion of the word “special” appears to be an internal invention, raising further suspicion about the legitimacy of the process.

Numerous on-ground reports have shown instances of irregularities during the SIR. These include inconsistencies in voter verification and complaints about field-level officers bypassing standard procedures.

"If there is an appraisal that the Commission has done, people should have a right to go through that appraisal, to see that appraisal on the basis of which this entire exercise is being done," said Anjali Bharadwaj during the discussion.

Also read: Bihar SIR: EROs mass-uploading enumeration forms without votters' consent, ADR tells SC

Historical precedent and missing records

The EC has claimed that similar exercises were conducted in Bihar in 2003. When journalists requested the relevant documentation to verify this, they were reportedly told that the EC could not locate the papers. RTI requests are now being filed to retrieve these documents.

Bharadwaj argued that if citizens are expected to provide birth certificates of themselves and their parents to prove eligibility, the EC must maintain its own records. She noted the contradiction in the EC expecting decades-old documentation from voters while claiming to have lost its own 2003 records.

Citizenship verification concerns

A key feature of the current SIR is the verification of citizenship through birth documents, leading to accusations that it mirrors the National Register of Citizens (NRC) exercise conducted in Assam. The EC's current guidelines reportedly allow election officials to flag individuals as suspected foreign nationals based on documentation gaps.

Bharadwaj warned that such provisions could lead to the creation of “D-voters”—those marked as doubtful citizens—raising the risk of detention and loss of voting rights.

Also read: Bihar SIR: As EC digs in heels and Tejashwi threatens poll boycott, all eyes on SC

Dead voters and disenfranchisement fears

The EC stated in recent press releases that lakhs of voters were removed from rolls as deceased or having left Bihar. However, Bharadwaj pointed out that no lists of these voters were made public, denying citizens the opportunity to verify their own or their family members' status.

She emphasized that people have previously been wrongly declared dead in welfare databases and that such errors must not be repeated in the electoral process. The lack of public access to names removed from the rolls fuels distrust.

Implementation flaws and lack of safeguards

Reports from Bihar have surfaced of booth-level officers allegedly filling out forms on behalf of voters without their knowledge. Public hearings have revealed multiple complaints from citizens claiming they never received forms, were misrepresented, or were not given copies of submitted documents.

The rushed timeline and lack of training for personnel have compounded these problems. Despite these challenges, the ECI continues to move forward with the exercise without offering sufficient evidence to justify the urgency or process.

“The EC must first come clean. They must tell us why they need to do this,” Bharadwaj said.

Also read: Chaos rules Bihar SIR; Opposition poll boycott in the offing? Capital Beat

SC hearing and broader implications

The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear the matter, with lawyers expected to raise the lack of transparency, including the unverified “independent appraisal.” The EC has also rejected the court’s earlier suggestion to accept Aadhaar, ration cards, and voter IDs as valid documents for enrolment.

Bharadwaj stated that the EC’s resistance to judicial recommendations further underscores the need for scrutiny. She noted that the voter roll is the foundational element of free and fair elections and any flaw could affect electoral outcomes even before voting takes place.

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