Oppn hails SC order on draft roll, EC cites Aadhaar validity

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said the campaign by millions of aware citizens, the Congress, and Rahul Gandhi has achieved its first success through the intervention of the Supreme Court.

New Delhi: The Opposition on Thursday described as “beacon of hope” and a “massive victory for democracy” the Supreme Court’s direction to the Election Commission of India (ECI) to make public the list of nearly 6.5 million voters whose names have been left out of Bihar’s draft electoral rolls during the special intensive revision (SIR) exercise. The court also allowed people aggrieved by the deletion of their names to approach the poll officials along with their Aadhaar card.

Oppn hails SC order on draft roll, EC cites Aadhaar validity

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said the campaign by millions of aware citizens, the Congress, and Rahul Gandhi has achieved its first success through the intervention of the Supreme Court. “…During SIR in Bihar, according to the ECI, the data of the 65 lakh (6.5 million) people who were excluded from the voter list will now have to be made public by the ECI, which will increase transparency,” Kharge said in a post in Hindi on X, welcoming the decision of the top court in the public interest.

Congress general secretary KC Venugopal said the Supreme Court’s ruling is a “massive victory for democracy”, and a huge message for the “vote chors (thieves)” who tried to use the SIR to distort the electoral process in Bihar. His party colleague Jairam Ramesh said the top court verdict on Bihar SIR issue is “a beacon of hope”. He added that the Supreme Court has just upheld the Constitution of India in a “categorical, convincing, and courageous manner”.

Tejashwi Yadav, the leader of RJD, an ally of Congress, said the interim order of the SC over SIR in Bihar has “exposed the BJP, its allies and their nefarious design to disenfranchise people”. “Our fight will continue and we will keep an eye on officials involved in the SIR exercise,” he told reporters.

Reacting to the development, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) said the Congress tried every “trick and deceit” to stop SIR exercise in Bihar but it had to face disappointment in the Supreme Court. “Now, in sheer desperation, Congress is clutching at non-issues and parading them as ‘moral victories’,” BJP chief JP Nadda said in a post on X.

The fact remains that all their canards are being rejected, exposed, and defeated one by one, Nadda, who is also the Union health minister, said. “Congress has yet again lost the case and lost the plot,” he added.

Responding to the court order, ECI said it was “already accepting Aadhaar card as proof,” sharing a photograph of the enumeration form used during the SIR. “List of deceased, voter at two places and permanently shifted is being shared with political parties since July 20, 2025,” it said.

The poll panel added that it will give “further facility to citizens at large” by adding a list of “non-included voters with reasons” to Bihar’s draft electoral roll.

Speaking on the matter, former Lok Sabha secretary PDT Achary said there was “no reason for the EC to not publish the list of deleted electors along with reasons for deletion publicly.”