EC defends SIR as lawful, SC grants petitioners 10 days to respond

The Supreme Court on Tuesday granted 10 days to petitioners to file a reply to the Election Commission's affidavit defending the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, maintaining that the exercise was authorised by law and the relevant orders were approved unanimously by all three members of the poll panel. A bench comprising Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana also issued notices to the poll panel and others on a fresh plea filed by Rajya Sabha MP Dola Sen alleging that changes were made in Form 6 during Bihar SIR without the approval of the top court.
The petitions challenge the EC’s decision-making process and seek to invalidate the SIR exercise and related actions. Singh’s plea also sought the suspension of the CEC over allegations of unilateral decision-making. The poll panel, in its 248-page response to the petition against Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar and the decisions taken by it, strongly defended the SIR. Rejecting the allegations that Form 6 had been amended, the poll panel said that no changes were made to the statutory Form 6 used for voter registration. "The attempt to make aspersions against the Election Commission is unfortunate," said the affidavit, filed by Deputy Election Commissioner Bhanu Prakash Yeturu on behalf of the EC.
On allegations concerning changes to voter enrolment forms, the EC said Form 6 had not been amended and that only the Centre could make such changes. However, it acknowledged that the online display could be interpreted as an amendment and said that, from October 21, the online application would be split into Form 6 and a separate SIR declaration, in line with the physical form. The Commission also said voters whose records could not be mapped during the SIR need not attend hearings as a rule, with booth-level officers (BLOs) collecting documents from their homes.