The Election Commission told the Supreme Court on Monday that voters in Bihar may file claims, objections and corrections to the draft electoral roll prepared under the Special Intensive Revision until each constituency’s nomination deadline.

Earlier, the cut-off date for filing claims, objections, and corrections was September 1.

The EC has not yet announced the dates for the Bihar Assembly polls.

A bench of Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi, while hearing pleas seeking extension of the deadline by two weeks, noted the submission and declined to pass any order extending the cut-off date.

The bench directed the Bihar State Legal Services Authority to deploy paralegal volunteers across districts to help individual voters and political parties file their claims and objections.

These volunteers will have to submit confidential reports to district judges, which will be collated at the state level and considered on September 8.

“Any extension of deadline will lead to disruption of the entire exercise and finalisation of final electoral roll,” said senior advocate Rakesh Dwivedi, who appeared for the EC.

Dwivedi added that 99.5 per cent of the 2.74 crore electors in the draft roll had already submitted eligibility documents, and refuted RJD’s allegation of filing 36 claims, asserting that only 10 had been filed — all of which were “duly accepted”.

The poll panel further stated it will issue notices within seven days to electors whose documents are incomplete, calling the SIR a “continuing exercise”.

It also pointed out that most objections filed by political parties sought deletions rather than inclusions.

The top court recorded the ECI’s note.

“Filing of claims/objections or corrections is not barred after 1 Sept. … The process will continue until the last date of nominations and all inclusions/exclusions are integrated in the final roll,” observed the apex court, reported Live Law.

Senior Advocate Shoeb Alam, representing the RJD, argued that the party had very little time — just nine days — after the Court allowed Aadhaar-based inclusion on August 22.

Advocate Prashant Bhushan contended that EC officials were not adhering to their manuals, while Advocate Nizam Pasha alleged that booth-level officers were refusing to accept forms.

On August 14, the Supreme Court had directed the ECI to publish the names of the 65 lakh excluded voters on the Bihar CEO’s website as well as on district electoral officers’ portals, with reasons for exclusion displayed in an EPIC-searchable format.

The matter will next be taken up on September 8.