Mahua Moitra Moves Supreme Court Against Bihar Voter Verification Drive; Says Exercise Presumes Ineligibility And Risks Mass Disenfranchisement

The petition, filed through Advocate on Record Neha Rathi, states that the revised procedure imposes an impermissible burden on existing voters, many of whom have voted in prior elections, to prove their eligibility through documents establishing their own or their parents’ citizenship. It says that the order can lead to large-scale disenfranchisement of eligible voters in the country, thereby undermining democracy and free and fair elections.

The petition states, “The impugned SIR order requires the inclusion or retention of a voter’s name in the electoral roll upon production of citizenship documents, including proof of citizenship of either or both the parents, failing which the voter is at risk of exclusion.”

It is further contended that this documentary requirement introduces “extraneous qualifications” that are not contemplated under the Constitution or the Representation of People Act, and is thus ultra vires Article 326.

The petition alleges that the order is procedurally and substantively invalid, as it bypasses the statutory mechanism prescribed under Rule 21A of the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960, and Form 7 read with Rule 13, which alone governs deletions and objections in the electoral roll. “It is settled law that when a law requires a particular thing to be done in a particular manner, it has to be done in that manner alone or not at all. ECI’s order dated 24.06.2025 is illegal as it presumes ineligibility of a voter unless otherwise proved by way of providing documents (from a limited list of 11 documents) for self as well as documents of mother or father or both”, it reads.

It is pointed out that Bihar has already undergone a Special Summary Revision (SSR) of the electoral rolls from October 2024 to January 2025, with final publication on January 6, 2025. The decision to conduct another round of verification through a door-to-door enumeration drive in a poll-bound state is described as “unjustified and unreasonable.”

The petition refers to paragraph 13 of the ECI’s directive, which reads, “In case Enumeration Form is not submitted before July 25, 2025, the name of the elector cannot be included in the draft rolls.”

It further states that this provision effectively places the burden of proof on the voter and converts a verification exercise into a presumptive exclusion regime.

It is averred in the petition that the ECI has failed to justify why commonly used identity documents such as Aadhaar and ration cards have been excluded. It states, “The said order arbitrarily excludes commonly accepted identity documents such as Aadhaar and ration cards from the list of accepted documents thereby putting huge burden on the voters who are at a huge risk of getting disenfranchised.”

It further submits that the order creates a discriminatory presumption in favour of those who appeared in the 2003 Electoral Roll, or whose parents did, while placing others, particularly first-time voters and migrants, at a disadvantage.

Highlighting the scale of potential impact, the petition cites field reports and news coverage suggesting that vulnerable populations, including Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, minorities, and migrant workers, are especially likely to be affected. One news excerpt annexed to the petition reads, “...Back home, a greying Farukh says none of his family members has received the new enrolment forms, nor do they know what to do next. “This is the latest way to hassle people... Is this not NRC? The reference is to the BJP-led Central government’s plans for a National Register of Citizens. Once linked to the Citizenship (Amendment) Act by the government, leading to protests in 2019, the NRC has since been put on the backburner. However, amid the EC’s new — and sudden — requirement that all voters, new and existing, provide documents that are akin to giving citizenship proof, a section of minorities ask if this is “NRC by the backdoor.”

The plea contends that the SIR framework resembles the structure and consequences of the National Register of Citizens (NRC), which has been widely critiqued for its exclusionary impact.

The petition further contends that the requirement to re-prove eligibility, even after having voted in prior elections, is irrational, stating, “Because the SIR in so far as it requires voters to again prove their eligibility as voters through a set of documents is absurd, since on the basis of their existing eligibility most existing voters have already voted multiple times in state as well as general elections.”

The petition refers to the Supreme Court’s decision in P.T. Rajan v. T.P.M. Sahir (2003), where the Court observed that the right to vote, though statutory, is protected under Article 326 and cannot be made contingent upon requirements not contemplated by statute.

The Petition also asserts that reports that a similar verification drive is proposed to begin in West Bengal from August 1, 2025, which if not immediately stayed, the mechanism introduced through the June 24 order may spread to other states and irreparably impact electoral participation.

The petition prays for a stay on the implementation of the SIR in Bihar and seeks a direction restraining the ECI from issuing similar orders in other states, and states, “If the impugned order is not set aside, vital constitutional guarantees under Articles 14, 19(1)(a), 21, 325, and 326 stand to be violated.”