The Supreme Court sought the Election Commission's reply on ADR plea alleging removal of key data from Bihar draft roll; the petitioner says absence of reason for deletion undermines transparency

The Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) has told the Supreme Court that the Election Commission of India (ECI) removed key information before releasing the draft electoral roll in Bihar on August 1. ADR indicated that while the ECI had data explaining the reasons for deleting nearly 6.5 million names from the voter list, it deleted the column containing this information before publication, Live Law reported. 

Taking note of ADR’s application, the Supreme Court on Wednesday asked the ECI to respond by August 9. The court also directed the poll panel to clarify whether the draft roll was shared with political parties before being made public, and to name the parties that received it.

Column on ‘reasons for deletion’ omitted

According to ADR, in an earlier version of the electoral list shared with some political parties on July 20, 2025, a column titled ‘Uncollectable Reason’ explained why enumeration forms were not filled for certain voters. However, ADR alleged that the same column was removed in the version shared after August 1, the news report said.

“That the Election Commission is in possession of such a list, as is evident from a sample list for one constituency (as provided to some political parties on July 20, 2025) that the petitioner obtained,” ADR said in its application. “This list provided the reason for not filling of the Enumeration Form under the column titled ‘Uncollectable Reason’. However, in the list of deleted names... the said column itself has been removed.”

Deletion process lacks transparency, says ADR

ADR also raised concerns over changes in the format of the electoral roll. Unlike previous years, the names of deleted voters are no longer listed in the booth-level roll, nor is there a summary of additions and deletions provided at the end. This makes it hard for political parties and citizens to check if the deletions were valid, ADR said.

The petition warned that voters whose names are missing from the draft roll have no access to legal remedies such as notice or personal hearing under Rule 21A of the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960. As a result, they are most at risk of being disenfranchised, Live Law reports.

ECI has data but not sharing it, says ADR

The application refers to a July 25 ECI press note that said about 2.2 million voters were deceased, 700,000 had multiple registrations, and 3.5 million had permanently migrated or were untraceable. Despite this, the ECI has not disclosed why individual names were deleted, ADR said. 

“It is submitted that the list with names of 6.5 million deleted electors curiously fails to disclose the reason for non-submission of their enumeration forms,” ADR mentioned.

ADR seeks full disclosure and guidelines

ADR has also urged the top court to direct the ECI to publish:

• A full constituency- and booth-wise list of the 6.5 million deleted voters, along with the reasons for deletion

• A list of voters marked as “not recommended” by Booth Level Officers (BLOs) in the August 1 draft roll

 ADR pointed out that there are no clear guidelines on how BLOs make these decisions and highlighted that 10.6 per cent of forms in Darbhanga and 12.6 per cent in Kaimur were marked as “not recommended”. The petitions challenging the Bihar Special Summary Revision (SIR) will be heard on August 12.