The Supreme Court on Tuesday indicated that it would not intervene in the voter roll revision being conducted by the Election Commission of India (ECI) across various states, terming the exercise as the Commission’s “absolute prerogative.”
A Bench comprising Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi was hearing petitions challenging the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls — a process that has drawn sharp criticism from opposition parties, particularly in poll-bound Bihar.
The court observed that the SIR is entirely within the constitutional mandate of the Election Commission. “The SIR exercise is absolutely the prerogative of the Election Commission of India,” the Bench remarked, while cautioning against judicial overreach into the Commission’s administrative functions.
When petitioners urged the court to intervene, the Bench questioned the intent behind such demands. “Why do you want the court to take over all functions?” it asked, adding, “There could be people living unauthorised in India; they’ll fear being exposed.”
The court further directed the petitioners to submit a list of at least 100 individuals claiming they were denied deletion orders and therefore unable to file appeals. “Let us have a list of at least 100 people with this grievance and say they want to file an appeal but were not given orders,” the Bench stated.
The matter has been posted for further hearing on October 9. The Supreme Court also orally suggested that the Election Commission compile data and prepare a note regarding the 3.66 lakh deletions and 21 lakh additions reported after the draft electoral roll’s publication.
On September 30, the Election Commission announced that the final electoral roll for Bihar recorded 7.42 crore electors, down from 7.89 crore before the SIR. However, the number rose by 17.87 lakh from the draft list issued on August 1. The draft list had seen 65 lakh deletions due to deaths, migration, and duplication, with 21.53 lakh new voters added and 3.66 lakh subsequently removed.
Announcing the assembly poll schedule on October 6, the EC said that elections will be held in two phases — on November 6 (for 121 constituencies) and November 11 (for 122 constituencies), with the counting of votes scheduled for November 14.
