The right to vote is a basic democratic right, enshrined in constitutional provisions and born out of long historical struggles. In India, universal adult franchise was a positive commitment at the time of Independence, extending the power of the vote to all citizens above 18, regardless of caste, creed, gender, or wealth. But recent developments in Bihar threaten to hollow out that commitment.
In June 2025, the Election Commission of India (ECI) initiated a Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls in Bihar. Unlike routine updates, this exercise requires nearly 4.74 crore voters—about 60% of the state’s electorate—to prove their Indian citizenship through a fresh set of documents. If they fail to do so, they risk being removed from the electoral roll. The rationale offered is the need to weed out ineligible voters, but the scale, timing, and methodology of the exercise raise serious constitutional and humanitarian concerns. The EC has reported that already 52 lakhs voters have been weeded out of the electoral list for various reasons, 26 lakhs of which are reported to have shifted to other constituencies.
At the heart of the issue is the reversal of the burden of proof. Rather than the state ensuring that eligible citizens are on the rolls, individuals—mostly from marginalised communities such as tribals, migrant workers and people living in slums and faraway hamlets—must now prove their citizenship. And it’s not just their own citizenship: those born after July 2004 must furnish proof that both parents are Indian citizens. Aadhaar and ration cards are not considered valid for this purpose. This creates enormous hurdles for the poor, women, and migrants who often lack formal documentation.
This is not merely disenfranchisement. If a person is struck off the voter list for failing to meet these documentary demands, it becomes a de facto questioning of their citizenship. This is why comparisons with Assam’s National Register of Citizens (NRC) are apt. There too, millions were asked to prove their ancestry and place in the Indian nation. The result? Nearly 19 lakh people were excluded from the final NRC list, many rendered stateless despite having lived in the country for generations.
The Bihar SIR bears all the hallmarks of the Assam NRC: retrospective scrutiny, onerous documentation, and a chilling disregard for the lived realities of marginalised people. But it comes with even fewer safeguards and far less time for compliance. Conducted during the monsoon, with lakhs of people working in other states, the process almost seems designed to keep working people out of the voter list.
Legal experts and people’s organisations have warned that this revision exercise violates key constitutional protections:
- Article 14 guarantees equality before the law. Disproportionate targeting of Bihar and certain communities undermines this.
- Article 21 ensures the right to life with dignity. Denying people the right to vote and citizenship documents is an assault on this dignity.
- Article 325 prohibits exclusion from the electoral roll on discriminatory grounds.
- Article 326 guarantees the right to vote to all adult citizens.
A Public Interest Litigation filed by the Association for Democratic Reforms is now before the Supreme Court. While the court has issued notice to the ECI and Union government and expressed “serious doubts” about the legality of the process, no interim relief has been granted.
This is not only about Bihar. If this method of electoral revision is normalised, it could set a precedent for other states. This also paves the way to depriving them of all fundamental rights, including their right to live in the country, and to strip them of whatever property they may have. It is impossible for millions of people who have lived in the country under delegated laws that have come down over millennia to `prove’ their citizenship, or their birth. Attempts such as these seem to be inspired by colonial and settler policies.
The consequences would be disastrous for the people. Electoral rights are not procedural conveniences; they are the foundation upon which political equality rests. Any attempt to curtail these rights through bureaucratic hurdles must be met with collective resistance.
In 1947, the Indian people made a bold choice: to enable every adult citizen with the vote. It is a right that at least offers a say to citizens on the election day. To retreat from that position, under the guise of verification, is to violate that right.
We must ask: if crores of Indians can be told to re-prove their citizenship just to vote, whose democracy is it anyway?
Source of image: https://www.scobserver.in/cases/challenge-to-the-ecis-revision-of-electoral-rolls-in-bihar-sir-association-for-democratic-reforms-v-election-commission-of-india/
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