The Supreme Court on Friday agreed to hear on September 1 a petition by the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) seeking more time for filing claims and objections in the ongoing voter list revision in Bihar. The present deadline ends on September 1.

A bench led by Justice Surya Kant listed the case for Monday after advocate Prashant Bhushan and senior lawyer Shoeb Alam urgently mentioned it.

When Justice Kant asked if the request was first made to the Election Commission, Bhushan replied that it was, but the plea was ignored.

RJD, in its application, has asked the court to direct the Commission to extend the claims period by two weeks, till September 15, citing the sharp rise in applications from excluded voters.

“As per the ECI’s own daily SIR (special intensive revision) update, the number of claims have increased and more than one lakh claims filed in the last one week. 33,349 claims have been filed in the last two days.The period of filing claims expires on 01-09-2025. Unless extended, genuine electors whose names have been erroneously deleted by the EC will not be able to submit their claims and consequently will be barred from exercising their right to vote in the coming elections,” the plea states.

The party has also argued that the Election Commission’s own manual on electoral rolls bars deletions on its own during an election year, and that a shorter deadline could hurt “the integrity of the voter list.”

In its application, filed by advocate Fauzia Shakil, RJD said that after the court’s August 22 order allowing Aadhaar as identity proof, the number of claims doubled from 84,305 on August 22 to 1,78,948 on August 27 — in just five days, as per NDTV reports. 

The party also alleged that many electoral officers were still insisting on one of the 11 ID documents listed in the ECI’s June 24 notice, ignoring the court’s ruling that Aadhaar alone was enough.

It has therefore asked the court to direct the Commission to publicise the August 22 order and make sure claims submitted with Aadhaar are accepted and shown in its daily reports.

Friday’s hearing came a week after the Supreme Court criticised political parties in Bihar for doing little to help voters whose names were deleted during the SIR exercise. About 6.5 million voters were left out of the draft rolls, according to figures shared in court.

On August 22, the bench, which also included Justice Joymalya Bagchi, noted that although parties had appointed over 1.6 lakh booth-level agents (BLAs), only two objections were filed. “We are surprised by the inaction of political parties.

What have they done after appointing BLAs? Why is there a gap between party workers and voters, whom they know so well?” the judges asked, directing recognised parties to actively help excluded voters file claims before the September 1 deadline.

To make the process easier for voters, the bench clarified that claims could be filed using Aadhaar or any of the 11 valid ID documents, and that physical filing was not compulsory.

It told booth-level officers to accept all submissions and urged the Election Commission to think about uploading objections online for greater transparency.

The August 22 hearing came after the ECI filed a compliance report saying it had posted booth-wise lists of all 6.5 million excluded voters on the websites of Bihar’s 38 district election officers and the state’s chief electoral officer.

The lists also mentioned reasons for exclusion such as death, migration or duplication.

The Commission added that the lists were displayed at panchayat offices and shared with booth-level officers (BLOs) and party agents, while a publicity campaign was carried out through newspapers, radio, social media and notices at block and village offices.

“People who have been left out can file their claims along with a copy of their Aadhaar card,” the affidavit said.