The Supreme Court of India has dismissed petitions filed by opposition parties seeking an extension of the deadline for filing objections against the final voter list under Bihar’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process. Parties including RJD and Congress had urged the court to extend the September 1 deadline by two more weeks, citing issues like floods and technical difficulties. The Election Commission of India (ECI), however, opposed the extension, stating that over 99.5% of voter documents had already been submitted and processed. The court sided with the ECI, clarifying that Aadhaar cannot be treated as the sole valid document beyond its legal status and that only the ECI’s prescribed process would be followed. The hearing saw heated arguments, with opposition lawyers accusing the ECI of lacking transparency and providing false data to the court. The ECI countered by revealing that while over 1.3 lakh deletion requests had been received, only 3,300 addition requests came from individuals and just 25 from political parties. The court also criticized political parties for not mobilizing their volunteers to assist voters. The case will now be heard again on September 8, but the final list will only include claims submitted before the deadline.
