Supreme Court upholds the decision 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 ultra vires (illegal) just because it’s a process different from ordinary exercise of revision of voter rolls. The Court has termed SIR as legitimate and constitutional exercise. “The exercise is legally tenable”, it added. Petitioner and Advocate Ashwini Upadhyay said, "... The Supreme Court has accepted the arguments put forth by the Election Commission; it has also accepted the arguments that we presented. Furthermore, regarding the more than 20 PILs filed by the opposition, in which various allegations were levelled, questions were raised regarding the impartiality of the Election Commission, and the procedure adopted was challenged—all those allegations have been rejected... For free and fair elections, it is imperative that the name of no ineligible individual appears in the voter list... The Supreme Court has affirmed that the list of 11 specified documents remains entirely valid... Regarding Aadhaar, it stated that its acceptance at that time as the twelfth recognised document was appropriate; however, the Election Commission will determine the course of action moving forward." Show more Show less
SC upholds Election Commission's SIR of Bihar voter rolls as constitutional
Supreme Court upholds the decision 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 ultra vires (illegal) just because it’s a process different from ordinary exercise of revision of voter rolls. The Court has termed SIR as legitimate and constitutional exercise. “The exercise is legally tenable”, it added. Petitioner and Advocate Ashwini Upadhyay said, "... The Supreme Court has accepted the arguments put forth by the Election Commission; it has also accepted the arguments that we presented. Furthermore, regarding the more than 20 PILs filed by the opposition, in which various allegations were levelled, questions were raised regarding the impartiality of the Election Commission, and the procedure adopted was challenged—all those allegations have been rejected... For free and fair elections, it is imperative that the name of no ineligible individual appears in the voter list... The Supreme Court has affirmed that the list of 11 specified documents remains entirely valid... Regarding Aadhaar, it stated that its acceptance at that time as the twelfth recognised document was appropriate; however, the Election Commission will determine the course of action moving forward."
