BJP’s national spokesperson Rajiv Pratap Rudy told PTI that the poll panel initiated SIR ahead of the State Assembly election to ensure that only eligible voters exercise their franchise. File
The BJP on Thursday (July 10, 2025) said the Supreme Court allowing the Election Commission (EC) to continue with the special intensive revision (SIR) of the electoral roll in Bihar is a “setback” to the Opposition parties that are protesting against the exercise. The BJP asked the parties to work hard to get the votes, instead of raising a hue and cry over the exercise.
BJP’s national spokesperson Rajiv Pratap Rudy told PTI that the poll panel initiated SIR ahead of the State Assembly election to ensure that only eligible voters exercise their franchise. “It is the EC’s constitutional right,” the MP from Bihar’s Saran said.
“Opposition parties had approached the Supreme Court on the issue, but the top court did not stay the process. It is a major setback to those political parties that started this campaign (against the SIR),” Mr. Rudy said, when asked for a comment.
“These Opposition parties must now be scared and have started sensing their defeat in the upcoming Bihar election,” the former Union Minister said. “They should work hard enough to woo their voters, rather than coming out crying that their voters are being removed,” he said.
Court directive
The Supreme Court on Thursday (July 10, 2025) allowed the EC to continue with its special scrutiny of the electoral roll in Bihar, calling it a “constitutional mandate”. It also asked the poll panel to consider Aadhaar, voter ID and ration cards as valid documents for the identification of voters during the exercise.
Noting that the top court made certain observations while hearing the matter, Mr. Rudy said the EC will look into those.
A Bench of Justices Sudhanshu Dhulia and Joymalya Bagchi expressed reservations over the timing of the revision and asked, “Why is this being undertaken just months before the election, when the exercise could have been initiated much earlier?” “If you are to check citizenship under the SIR of the electoral roll in Bihar, then you should have acted early. It is a bit late,” the Bench said.
More than 10 petitions have been filed in the top court on the issue. The NGO, Association for Democratic Reforms, is the lead petitioner.
Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) MP Manoj Jha, Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra, Congress’s K.C. Venugopal, NCP (SP) leader Supriya Sule, CPI leader D. Raja, Samajwadi Party’s Harinder Singh Malik, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Arvind Sawant, the JMM’s Sarfaraz Ahmed and Dipankar Bhattacharya of the CPI(ML) are among those who have moved the top court, seeking a direction for the quashing of the EC order.
Rigging charge
Mr. Rudy rejected Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s allegation that the NDA government wants to “rig” the Bihar poll as it did in the 2024 Maharashtra election, and said it is unfair to “cry foul” and accuse the EC of being “biased and unfair”.
“Those who are eligible to vote are added to the electoral roll while those not eligible are weeded out. The names of those who are not (Indian) citizens and do not fulfil the prerequisites are removed. This process is followed across the country,” the BJP leader said.
The process of revision of the electoral roll is a “constitutional action” and the EC has to initiate it prior to every election, he added. “Legitimate voters have to be added. Those who do not qualify to be voters in Bihar need to be removed,” Mr. Rudy said.
Bihar is scheduled to go to polls later in the year.
Published – July 11, 2025 02:51 am IST
