Goa, May 27 -- The Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld the Election Commission of India's (ECI) Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar, ruling that the poll body acted within its constitutional and statutory powers while carrying out the exercise. The verdict came on a batch of petitions challenging the legality of the SIR process, which was launched to identify bogus, duplicate and ineligible voters in the state.

A bench of Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi observed that the SIR exercise had a "direct nexus" with ensuring free and fair elections and said the Election Commission was empowered under the Constitution and the Representation of the People Act to revise electoral rolls.

The apex court also upheld the ECI's a...