The Supreme Court has issued a stern warning to the Election Commission of India (ECI) over its conduct of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar. If the court finds any illegality in ECI’s methodology, it has made clear that the entire exercise could be set aside.

A bench led by Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi also stated that its final verdict will apply not just to Bihar but to all SIR exercises across the country.  The court emphasised that it cannot issue piecemeal opinions specific only to Bihar’s case.

The Supreme Court has scheduled October 7 for the hearing of final arguments on the validity of the SIR exercise in Bihar.  Earlier, the court had directed the EC to accept Aadhaar as one of the valid identity proofs during the Bihar SIR process, though clarified that Aadhaar cannot serve as proof of citizenship.

The process has also been criticised for excluding many on account of documentation requirements, which did not initially include Aadhaar, a commonly-held identity document.