This was the third affidavit filed by EC in response to an application filed by ADR claiming 65 lakh voters in Bihar during the SIR of the electoral rolls have been left without disclosing reasons.

Opposing the application filed by ADR seeking the publication of a list of persons not included in the draft roll, the Election Commission of India (ECI) -- by filing an affidavit -- told the Supreme Court that it was not prescribed under rules to publish a separate list of persons not included in the draft electoral roll.

The apex court's two-judge bench, headed by Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymala Bagchi, is scheduled to hear on August 12, Tuesday, a batch of pleas challenging the constitutional validity of Bihar SIR.

This was the third affidavit filed by the Commission in response to a notice to the Supreme Court on an application filed by NGO, Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), claiming 65 lakh voters in Bihar during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls have been left without disclosing reasons.

"It is not required under the Rules to furnish the reasons for the non-inclusion of persons in the draft Roll. It has shared the draft roll with the political parties," the ECI in its fresh affidavit told the apex court.

The persons not included in the draft have the option of submitting a declaration for inclusion.

Pleading to the SC for dismissing the batch of pleas in Bihar SIR issue, the ECI clarified that such electors would be afforded a reasonable opportunity of being heard and furnishing of relevant documents.

"As a matter of policy and in strict adherence to the principles of natural justice, no deletion of any elector's name from the draft electoral roll of Bihar published on August 1, 2025, as part of the Special Intensive Revision, would be undertaken without issuance of a prior notice and passing of a reasoned and speaking order by the competent authorit," the ECI told the apex court.

Dismissing the allegations, the EC, in an additional affidavit filed on Saturday, said, the safeguards against deletion have been reinforced by a robust two-tier appeal mechanism prescribed under the relevant rules, thereby ensuring that every elector has adequate recourse against any adverse action.

"The petitioners in the Bihar SIR case are attempting to mislead the court. The petitioners have come to court with unclean hands and deserve heavy costs to be imposed upon them," the ECI said.

The commission further told the top court that it was not required to provide reasons for non-inclusion along with the list of names, and it serves no practical purpose.

“Petitioners cannot ask for a list of deleted voter names as a matter of right. Thereby, the pleas should be dismissed by the apex court," the ECI added.

The Commission had also said that it had deployed about 2.5 lakhs volunteers, most of whom are also officers of the Bihar government, to assist electors, including in procuring the requisite documents from various State departments, the affidavit said.

"To facilitate thorough scrutiny of the draft roll from August 1 to September 1, 2025, printed and digital copies of draft rolls have been made available to political parties, and online facility for the public at large.

"To ensure that no temporary migrant from Bihar is excluded, advertisements in Hindi were issued in 246 newspapers and the CEOs of all States/UTs, were requested to take forms from outside the State through both online and physical means," the ECI said.

The Commission, further defending the Bihar SIR, stated that individuals whose names, for any reason, do not figure in the draft electoral roll published on August 1, such individuals can submit an application to lodge a claim for inclusion in the draft roll during the claims and objections period.

"Exclusion of a name from the draft electoral roll does not amount to deletion of an individual from the electoral rolls. The draft roll simply shows that the duly filled enumeration form of existing electors has been received during the Enumeration Phase. But, on account of human involvement in the execution of this exercise of scale, there is always a possibility that an exclusion or inclusion might surface due to inadvertence or error," the ECI said.

The Supreme Court had earlier indicated that it would step in immediately if it came to know that there was "mass exclusion" in the SIR exercise of electoral rolls in Bihar, while hearing a batch of pleas challenging the revision of electoral rolls exercise in Bihar, ahead of the state assembly polls in November.

On July 28, the Supreme Court in its order refused to stay the Election Commission from publishing draft voters list on August 1, 2025 after SIR exercise in Bihar. It also reiterated and asked the EC to complete the process of considering including Aadhaar and Voter ID cards to ensure their statutory correctness.

Earlier on July 10, the apex court's two-judge vacation bench, in its last order -- while refusing to stay the Bihar voter list revision -- asked the ECI to complete the process.

"In our prima facie view, since the list is not exhaustive, in our opinion, it will be in the interest of justice, the ECI will also consider the Aadhaar card, Electoral Photo Identity Card issued by the Election Commission and the ration card," the bench had said.

The apex court on July 10 had passed the direction after hearing a batch of petitions challenging the decision of the ECI to undertake the SIR of electoral rolls in poll-bound Bihar.

On Monday, July 21, the ECI had told the top court that 90% electors had already submitted enumeration forms. "Apart from ensuring no one is left out of the list, special focus on poor, marginalised etc is being given.

The ECI also defended, in its affidavit, the Aadhar's exclusion from the list of 11 documents, saying it doesn't help in screening eligibility of voters under Art 326. It, however, maintained that the list of documents was indicative, not exhaustive.

The ECI said the SIR Survey was being done after concerns were raised by the political parties across the spectrum

"For the first time, all the political parties have been so involved at this scale in intensive revision exercises, with all political parties appointing more than 1.5 lakh BLAs to work in tandem with BLOs, in reaching out to each eligible elector," added the affidavit of the ECI.

The top court was hearing the pleas filed by NGO- Association For Democratic Reforms (ADR), People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), Yogendra Yadav, Lok Sabha Member of Parliament (MP) from Trinamool Congress Party, Mahua Moitra, Rashtriya Janta Dal (RJD) MP Manoj Jha, Congress Party leader K C Venugopal and Mujahid Alam.

The petitioners from the top court sought a direction to set aside the ECI’s SIR order of 24, June, 2025.

"Issue a writ, order or direction setting aside Order and Communication dated 24.06.2025 and accompanying guidelines issued by ECI to conduct SIR of the electoral rolls in Bihar as being in violation of Articles 14, 19, 21, 325, 326 of the Constitution of India and provisions of Representation of People (RP) Act, 1950 and Registration of Electors Rules, 1960," said, the plea of ADR, filed in the top court.

"The SIR order, if not set aside, can arbitrarily and without due process disenfranchise lakhs of voters from electing their representatives, thereby disrupting free and fair elections and democracy in the country, which are part of the basic structure of the Constitution," said the NGO ADR, in its plea filed in the top court.