Despite reference to the 2003 Special Intensive Revision (SIR) to justify the pace of the present electoral revision exercise in Bihar, the Election Commission of India has declined to provide a copy of the 2003 order under a Right to Information (RTI) query, and instead cited the June 2025 order for the ongoing process, while reports indicated that the 2003 order is unavailable either on the Commission’s website or in its archives.
The RTI application, filed by transparency activist Anjali Bhardwaj, sought details including a copy of the notification that authorised the 2003 SIR in Bihar, the guidelines that specified its procedures, the prescribed forms, and the list of documents required for submission, yet the Commission only furnished a link to the June 24, 2025 order, which is already accessible on its website, The Wire reported.
The development has raised questions since the Commission had cited the 2003 exercise in its affidavit before the Supreme Court to defend the timeline of the current revision, but did not append the relevant order or guidelines from two decades ago.
In its affidavit, the Commission emphasised that the duration of the 2003 SIR was similar to that of the ongoing revision, and it gave details of the enumeration period while omitting information on when claims and objections were filed or when the draft and final rolls were published.
The affidavit also stated that four documents were prescribed in the 2003 exercise to establish citizenship, including the National Register of Citizens where available, the citizenship certificate, a valid passport, or a birth certificate, while noting that the present 2025 SIR in Bihar requires 11 indicative documents to establish eligibility under Article 326.
Observers pointed out that while the Commission’s defence highlighted the precedent of July 2003 for conducting such an exercise close to monsoon conditions, it did not acknowledge that assembly elections were not held until October 2005, whereas Bihar faces polls in the immediate months following the current SIR.
The RTI request also sought details of the independent analysis that the Commission claimed had led to the decision for a nationwide SIR, including references to internal files and approvals, but the Commission responded by directing the applicant again to the June 24, 2025, guidelines and further stated that no such files were available within the Commission.