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The Supreme Court on Tuesday issued notice to the Election Commission of India (ECI) on pleas challenging the constitutional validity of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Tamil Nadu and West Bengal.
A bench of Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi also ordered that the High Courts to keep in abeyance the petitions filed before them in relation to the SIR of these states and Bihar. It has now posted the matter for hearing on November 26. "Since this court is seized of the matter pertaining to legality of SIR of electoral rolls in various states, including Bihar, WB, TN, Pondicherry, etc., we request jurisdictional High Courts to keep in abeyance or defer the writ proceedings if any filed in those High Courts touching the validity of SIR in their states," observed the bench. SIR in West Bengal was challenged by TMC MP Dola Sen, and West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee, while Communist Party of India (Marxist) and Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), through its secretary RS Bharathi, challenged the SIR exercise in Tamil Nadu. During the hearing, senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for DMK, alleged that the SIR exercise was being undertaken in a tearing hurry, unlike before, when it used to take three years to revise the electoral rolls. To this, the bench asked the petitioners why they were so apprehensive about the exercise. "The situation in different states is different. This monsoon season in Tamil Nadu there would be a lot of rain, that might not be in other states. It's always heavy during November and December. It is not uniform across the country. The BLOs, etc., will have to manage the flood relief as well. December and January are harvest season too in Tamil Nadu, and that time is not conducive. Christmas vacations will also be declared, there might be minimum participation in enumeration process. This may not be relevant in other states," Sibal said. The top court is already seized of pleas challenging SIR in Bihar. Meanwhile, the apex court also asked ECI to respond to an application seeking a direction to the panel to ensure that an acknowledgement slip is given to all voters who submit the enumeration forms. The forms are not being uploaded on websites, so people do not have proof that they have filed the enumeration form, advocate Prashant Bhushan appearing for the Association for Democratic Reforms said. ECI announced last month that it will conduct the second phase of SIR of electoral rolls across 12 states and Union Territories, with the final voter list to be published on February 7, 2026. The first phse of SIR was done in Bihar before the assembly polls. The exercise will cover Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Gujarat, Kerala, Lakshadweep, Madhya Pradesh, Puducherry, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal. (ANI)
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