India, July 28 -- The Supreme Court is hearing several petitions against the Election Commission of India (ECI)'s decision to conduct a special intensive revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls in Bihar even as the first phase of the exercise was completed last week. SIR targets updating the rolls before the upcoming Assembly elections in the state. After the first phase, ECI revealed that 72.4 million enumeration forms have been collected, which is 6.5 million less than the number of registered voters in the state as on June 24, when SIR began.

While ECI has the power to conduct revision of electoral rolls under Section 21 of the Representation of the People Act 1950, two striking issues aggrieved the petitioners. First, the revision proc...