Kapil Sibal seeks SC intervention over ‘mass deletion’ from electoral rolls

Rajya Sabha MP Kapil Sibal. File. | Photo credit: ANI

Former union minister and Rajya Sabha MP Kapil Sibal on Wednesday (September 2, 2026) urged the Supreme Court to stop the “mass erasure” taking place under the Special Intensive Review (SIR) of electoral rolls.

Mr. Sibal claimed that the ongoing SIR was aimed at helping the BJP win the elections. In a post on X, he called it “politics of exclusion” and claimed that “BJP agents” were trying to “target Muslims, seek mass erasure”. He added: “The Supreme Court must stop this!”

At a press conference on Wednesday, Mr. Sibal cited a report from Jharkhand in which he alleged that the application form for erasure of names from the electoral roll was being submitted en masse by BJP workers. He said: “You can file bulk forms – you can take 45 or 100 or even 400. You can fill in the forms and you can say this name should be deleted. You don’t have to give any reason for it and if it’s found to be false, it doesn’t matter.”

Form 7 is submitted to object to an existing name on the electoral rolls or to request deletion of a name due to reasons such as death, transfer or incapacity. The concerned Booth Level Officer (BLO) or Electoral Registration Officer (ERO) must then conduct an inquiry on the application and issue a voter notice before taking any action.

Also read | The omission in recent SIRs suggests an arbitrary use of reasons

Earlier, The Hindu reported that cases of mass filing of Form 7 have emerged in states like Rajasthan, Gujarat and Assam.

Mr. Sibal claimed that many of the people whose names were deleted were Muslims and had lived in their area for years. “That’s why it’s a very serious issue and if the courts don’t look at this issue, if the courts just believe that the SIR exercise is being done by the neutral Election Commission of India, then I think we’re in deep trouble; this democracy is going to be in deep trouble,” he said.

“And this will happen in every state where elections are held. Fortunately, in this particular case in Jharkhand, even the BLO is protesting because the opposition is in power… But where they (BJP) are in power, who will object?” he asked.

His remarks come a day after Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi flagged the exclusion of 2.06 million names in the draft electoral rolls released in Maharashtra, alleging that votes were added and deleted to ensure the BJP won.

Published – 02 Sep 2026 15:30 IST