'It breathes life...': Supreme Court upholds ECI’s right to conduct voter roll revision in Bihar
&imwidth=600&imheight=450&format=webp&quality=medium "'It breathes life...': Supreme Court upholds ECI’s right to conduct voter roll revision in Bihar")
Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voter rolls being checked by voters Photograph: (ANI)
The Supreme Court upheld the ECI’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voter rolls in Bihar, calling it constitutional and legally valid. The bench led by CJI Surya Kant said the process cannot be declared illegal just because it differs from routine voter list revision.
The Supreme Court of India on Wednesday (May 27) has upheld the right of Election Commission of India’s (ECI) to undertake Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voter rolls that started in Bihar. A bench led by CJI Surya Kant has held that the SIR exercise cannot be struck down as illegal just because it’s a process different from ordinary exercise of revision of voter rolls. The Court held that the exercise is constitutionally valid and has a direct nexus with ensuring free and fair elections.
The Supreme Court also said that the power of ECI to decide inclusion of persons in the electoral process is limited and deletion of names does not divest the individual of their citizenship status. The citizenship status can only be determined by the competent authority. It ruled that when the law permits a special revision, the process cannot be struck down merely because it differs from routine revision methods. The Court said SIR does not replace the Representation of the People Act, 1950, but instead strengthens the constitutional mandate under Article 324 within statutory limits under Section 21(3). Importantly, the Court observed that the integrity, accuracy, and credibility of electoral rolls are fundamental to democracy, and SIR aims to address issues like outdated entries, migration, duplication, and large-scale demographic changes over decades.
The Supreme Court bench delivering the verdict comprised of CJI Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi. Senior Advocates Kapil Sibal, Abhishek Manu Singhvi, Gopal Sankaranarayanan, Shadan Farasat, PC Sen, Raju Ramachandran appeared for petitioners. Advocates Prashant Bhushan, Vrinda Grover, Nizam Pasha, Sharukh Alam, Fauzia Shakil, Neha Rathi and others also appeared. For Election Commission of India (ECI), Senior Advocates Rakesh Dwivedi, Maninder Singh, Dama Seshadri Naidu and Advocate Eklavya Dwivedi appeared.
