The Congress on Tuesday accused the Election Commission (EC) of lacking transparency and integrity in its handling of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar, as the Supreme Court resumed hearings on the issue.

Congress general secretary in-charge of communications Jairam Ramesh said the EC had “failed on all three counts of completeness, equity, and accuracy” in conducting the SIR, which was meant to clean up Bihar’s voter list.

“The Supreme Court hearing on the Bihar SIR resumes today,” Ramesh wrote on X.

“This fine analysis shows that the entire SIR exercise bulldozed through by the Election Commission has failed on all three counts of completeness, equity, and accuracy.”

The Congress leader shared a news article, which also criticised the SIR exercise, saying it exposed flaws in the EC’s methodology and fairness.

Ramesh further alleged that the poll body had neither the “integrity” nor the “courage” to reveal how many non-citizens were actually removed from the Bihar voter list.

“Much was made of the need of the SIR exercise to remove non-citizens from the electoral roll. The EC has not had the integrity or the courage to enlighten the country on how many such non-citizens in Bihar were removed from the electoral roll. If it had done so, it would have been even more exposed than it already is,” he said.

The EC has defended the exercise, saying it would not allow any eligible citizen to be left out of the voter list while ensuring no ineligible person remains enrolled.

Following the SIR, the poll body said Bihar’s voter list had been “purified” for the first time in 22 years, reducing the number of electors from 7.89 crore in June to 7.42 crore in the final list.

According to the EC, around 65 lakh voters were removed from the draft roll, and similar SIR exercises will be carried out across the country.

The Opposition has alleged that the voter list revision was politically motivated and conducted under pressure from the ruling BJP, a charge the EC has denied.

Bihar will vote in two phases, on November 6 and 11, with results to be declared on November 14.