Supreme Court Declines To Extend Bihar SIR Deadline As Election Commission Assures Objections Can Be Submitted

The Supreme Court on Monday (1 September) declined to extend the 1 September deadline for filing claims and objections in Bihar’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise, after the Election Commission of India (ECI) assured that such applications would still be considered until the last date for filing nominations, LiveLaw reported.

A bench of Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi recorded the Commission’s submission that claims, objections, or corrections “can be submitted even after the deadline, i.e., after 1 September and same will be considered after roll has been finalised. The process will continue until the last date of nominations and all inclusions/exclusions are integrated in the final roll.” The Court, in light of this, saw no need to extend the original deadline.

The bench further directed the Bihar State Legal Services Authority to deploy para-legal volunteers across districts to assist voters and political parties in submitting claims online.

These volunteers are required to provide their contact details publicly and file confidential reports with the District Judge, which will later be collated at the state level.

During arguments, Senior Advocate Rakesh Dwivedi, representing the ECI, highlighted that while 99.5 per cent of Bihar’s 7.24 crore voters had already completed their forms, objections filed by political parties were largely seeking deletions rather than inclusions, which he described as “very strange.”

Out of 65 lakh excluded voters, only 33,326 individuals and 25 group claims had sought inclusion after the Court’s earlier order. By contrast, 1.34 lakh objections were submitted for deletions.

Counsel for the petitioners, however, raised concerns about the process. Advocate Prashant Bhushan argued that officials were not following the ECI’s manuals, while Advocate Nizam Pasha said Block Level Officers were refusing forms.

The petitions, moved by RJD MP Manoj Kumar Jha and MLA Akhtarul Iman, sought a two-week extension of the 1 September deadline. The matter will be heard again on 8 September.

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