Supreme Court Demands Transparency on Bihar Voter List Amidst Doubts Over Congress-Led Alliance’s Election Prospects

Supreme Court Demands Transparency on Bihar Voter List Amidst Doubts Over Congress-Led Alliance’s Election Prospects

RMN News Report Highlights:

• The Supreme Court ordered the Election Commission to upload names of 65 lakh individuals removed from the Bihar voter list, along with reasons for their deletion, by Tuesday to enhance transparency.
• The court also ruled that aggrieved persons can submit claims with their Aadhaar cards and mandated that the lists be made widely accessible online and manually at various public offices.
• Despite these court directions, it is considered unlikely that Congress and its allies will win the Bihar election, with allegations that the BJP can manipulate elections in collusion with the ECI.
• One speculated scenario suggests PM Modi might allow a temporary victory for Congress to counter “vote chori” allegations, followed by alleged bribing of victorious MLAs to join the BJP, similar to events in other states.

By Rakesh Raman
New Delhi | August 14, 2025

New Delhi: In a significant ruling, the Supreme Court today (August 14) instructed the Election Commission of India (ECI) to upload the names of 65 lakh individuals removed from the Bihar voter list onto its websites by Tuesday, along with the specific reasons for their deletion. This directive aims to enhance transparency, ensuring that every voter can access this crucial information and verify their status. However, despite these far-reaching court orders, there is skepticism regarding the ability of Congress and its allies to secure a victory in the upcoming Bihar election.

During the hearing of petitions challenging the Special Intensive Revision of voter lists in poll-bound Bihar, Justice Surya Kant highlighted that the ECI stated 22 lakh out of the 65 lakh deleted names were due to deaths. Justice Kant questioned why this information was not disclosed at the booth level, emphasizing that “we do not want citizens’ rights to be dependent on political parties”.

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The apex court’s order outlined several key steps:

• Display of 65 lakh names: The list of 65 lakh voters whose names appeared in the 2025 list but are not included in the draft list must be displayed on district-level websites.
• Reasons for deletion: The list must also clearly mention the reason for each deletion from the draft roll.
• Wide publicity: The information must be given wide publicity in vernacular language newspapers with maximum circulation and broadcast on Doordarshan and other television channels. District election officers are also required to display the notice on their social media handles.
• Claims with Aadhaar: Aggrieved persons whose names have been wrongly deleted can submit their claims along with a copy of their Aadhaar cards. This is particularly significant as earlier petitions challenging the revision had flagged the exclusion of Aadhaar as proof, which potentially affected many voters.
• Manual access: To ensure accessibility, booth-wise lists of the 65 lakh voters must be displayed on the noticeboards of all panchayat bhawans and Block development and panchayat offices.
• Searchable data: Justice Joymalya Bagchi stressed the need for greater transparency, stating, “put the entire data set on the website”. The bench further added that the complete online data set must be searchable, allowing people to access their information using their EPIC (Electors Photo Identity Card) numbers. Justice Kant remarked, “Anita Devi should know that if I go to this website, I will know how to get my name”.

Despite these stringent court directions aimed at ensuring fair and transparent electoral processes, the sources suggest that a victory for Congress and its allies in Bihar is unlikely. It is alleged that the BJP, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, possesses the capability to manipulate any election in collusion with the Election Commission of India to ensure the success of its candidates.

One speculated scenario indicates that PM Modi might temporarily permit Congress and its allies to win the Bihar election. This move could serve to counter Rahul Gandhi’s allegations of “vote chori” (vote theft) against the BJP and the ECI, thereby portraying these claims as false.

However, this could potentially be followed by other malpractices, such as bribing the victorious Members of Legislative Assembly (MLAs) to defect and join the BJP, ultimately leading to the formation of a BJP government in Bihar. This strategy reportedly mirrors events that have occurred in states like Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, and others.

The case is scheduled for its next hearing on August 22.