'Bihar SIR is against the voters...', what did the Supreme Court say on Abhishek Manu Singhvi's argument?

On the petitions filed regarding the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the voter list in Bihar, the Supreme Court made it clear that the Election Commission's document verification campaign is not 'anti-voter'.

The court rejected the petitioner's claim that this exercise is an attempt to exclude people from the voter list. This hearing took place on Wednesday, August 13, 2025, before a bench of Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi, in which the court has underlined the voter-friendly stance.

Senior advocate Abhishek Singhvi, while arguing on the petition in the court, called the document verification anti-voter and separatist, but Justice Bagchi rejected his argument and said, "We understand your argument of separation by linking it to Aadhaar. But the matter is about the number of documents, which is actually in favor of the voters, not against them. Just see how many documents you can use to prove citizenship." 'If they ask for 11 documents then...'

Supporting Justice Bagchi's statement, Justice Surya Kant said, "You are saying that if they ask for 11 documents, then it is anti-voter. But if only one document is asked for, then..."

The court clarified that this step of the Election Commission is to facilitate the voters and not to trouble them.