Congress hails SC verdict on Bihar SIR, accuses ECI of ‘brutal assault’ on democracy

New Delhi: The Congress on Friday welcomed the Supreme Court’s ruling on the Bihar Special Intensive Revision (SIR), claiming it had protected democracy from what it described as a “brutal assault” by the Election Commission of India (ECI).

Congress General Secretary (Communications) Jairam Ramesh, in a post on X, said the party welcomed the verdict, adding: “Democracy has survived a brutal assault from the Election Commission of India.”

Ramesh pointed to key directives issued by the apex court during the hearings. On August 14, the court set aside the ECI’s decision to withhold the list of deleted voters and ordered that such lists must be published with reasons for deletion. It also directed the ECI to accept Aadhaar cards as valid identity proof for voters whose names were removed.

“Today, it reaffirmed Aadhar as a valid ID that the ECI MUST accept. Today Supreme Court has laid down guardrails to make the revision more inclusive by involving political parties in the process,” he said.

He accused the ECI of adopting an obstructionist stance against voters’ interests. “So far, the ECI's approach has been obstructionist and contrary to the interests of the voters. We welcome this judgment especially because it gives us an enforceable right which the ECI cannot ignore,” he added.

According to Ramesh, the verdict left the poll body “totally exposed and discredited” and marked the defeat of what he called its “G2 puppeteers.”

In its latest order on Friday, the Supreme Court directed the ECI to accept online claims for voter list inclusion. It also asked political parties and their booth-level agents to assist voters unable to submit enumeration forms, which had led to deletions.

The court further clarified that claims could be filed using any of the 11 documents already notified by the ECI, in addition to Aadhaar.