India, Aug. 10 -- The Election Commission of India (ECI) has told the Supreme Court that it is under no legal obligation to prepare or publish a separate list of nearly 65 lakh names not included in Bihar's draft electoral rolls, or to disclose reasons for their non-inclusion.

In its latest affidavit on the contentious special intensive revision (SIR) in Bihar ahead of assembly polls later this year, the Commission emphasised that the Representation of the People Act, 1950, and the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960, only require publication of the draft roll and provision for claims and objections, and not any parallel deletion list.

ECI argued that non-inclusion in a draft roll is not the same as deletion from the electoral roll. Th...