New Delhi | August 12, 2025 : The ongoing 'special intensive revision' of Bihar’s voter list by the Election Commission (EC) may be set aside, the Supreme Court observed on Tuesday, if illegality in the process is proven. The court’s remarks came amid heated arguments over the EC’s authority to demand documents proving citizenship from voters, excluding commonly accepted IDs like Aadhaar and the EC’s own identity card.

The EC has argued that while Aadhaar and similar IDs establish identity, they do not prove citizenship — a necessary condition for voting rights. However, petitioners challenged whether the EC even has the authority to determine citizenship.

Senior advocate Abhishek Singhvi, representing Rashtriya Janata Dal MP Manoj Kumar Jha, contended that the power to grant or revoke citizenship lies solely with the Home Ministry, not the EC. "The court said the EC only needs to verify identity. The presumption should be that voters are valid citizens unless the government removes them following due process," Singhvi said. He added that the EC was never intended to be the "policeman of citizenship."

Justice Surya Kant acknowledged that while the government administers citizenship, excluding non-citizens from electoral rolls is within the EC’s remit. Singhvi countered by questioning how the EC could determine citizenship status of voters already on the rolls.

The court highlighted the gravity of the issue: "If they declare five crore voters invalid, we will be sitting here."

Although the court did not issue a verdict on the EC’s controversial re-verification exercise involving nearly eight crore voters months ahead of Bihar’s Assembly election, the remarks are a positive sign for opposition parties and activists challenging the legal basis of the revision.

Opposition leaders, led by Congress’s Rahul Gandhi, have accused the EC of colluding with the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to disenfranchise voters, particularly from marginalized communities who traditionally support the Congress or its allies. They allege the revision is a smokescreen to remove lakhs of voters unjustly.

The EC has strongly denied any collusion, insisting the revision aims to ‘purify’ the electoral rolls by removing ineligible voters — including those who have died, moved away, or are registered multiple times. It has repeatedly demanded proof and a signed affidavit from Rahul Gandhi to substantiate his allegations.

Meanwhile, BJP leaders, including Home Minister Amit Shah, have dismissed the Congress’s claims as excuses for electoral defeat in Bihar’s November polls.

The EC stated earlier that over 65 lakh people, including individuals from Nepal, Myanmar, and Bangladesh who had managed to register on India’s electoral roll, have been removed so far.

The Supreme Court’s observations underscore the delicate balance between ensuring a clean electoral list and safeguarding citizens’ rights. With Bihar’s elections approaching, the outcome of this legal scrutiny will have significant implications for democracy in the state.