August 8, 2025

Hold on, voters! A big drama unfolds on the electoral stage! The Supreme Court of India has jumped into the sizzling controversy of Bihar's draft voter list. The core issue? A whopping 65 lakh names have vanished from the updated voter list, released as part of an ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR). The Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), a watchdog for clean democracy, filed an application demanding the Election Commission of India (ECI) spill the beans. ADR wants to know who these missing 65 lakh people are and why they were cut from the list. Advocate Prashant Bhushan posed a sharp question: "But no list of those 65 lakh names given, and it says 32 lakh migrated, and no other details. They should disclose, who are these 65 lakh? Who has migrated and who is dead?" Answering this fiery query, ECI’s lawyer promised the court that all voters' data had been shared with political parties before the draft roll was made public. But the Supreme Court’s division bench, led by Justice Surya Kant, wants that assurance on paper. "Give a list of political parties who were supplied with it. We will see that every voter likely to be affected gets the required information," Justice Kant instructed firmly. The Supreme Court has asked the ECI to respond by Saturday, turning up the heat on the poll body to be transparent and detailed. They also want the ECI to clarify if the draft voter list was shared with political parties before anyone else saw it and to name those parties clearly. A twist in the tale! ADR points out that in an earlier version shared with some parties, the list mentioned reasons for removing voters under "uncollectable reason." But in the final draft released on August 1, this vital column disappeared mysteriously. The ECI says the purge happened after Booth Level Officers (BLOs) and Booth Level Agents (BLAs) flagged issues: 22 lakh voters had died, 7 lakh had registered in multiple places, and roughly 35 lakh had moved away or could not be traced. Around 1.2 lakh voter forms are still missing. Now, the Supreme Court is watching closely. The next hearing is scheduled for August 12. Will the Election Commission open its books and prove that democracy’s foundation—the voter list—is clean and clear? Stay tuned as the drama unfolds in the land of the world's largest democracy!

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Tags: Supreme court, Election commission of india, Bihar electoral roll, Association for democratic reforms, Voter list update,