SIR To Continue? Supreme Court’s Big Verdict Amid Backlash Over Roll Revision

The Supreme Court on May 27 confirmed the validity of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls conducted by the Election Commission of India and stated that the electoral SIR is a step towards the Constitutional mandate of free and fair elections. The Court had reiterated that the Election Commission is vested with the power to hold SIR under the Representation of the People Act, 1950 and Rules framed thereunder in conjunction with Article 324 of the Constitution. 

Supreme Court gives big update on SIR

The court made it clear that the SIR determination made by the EC would be a determination of eligibility for voting and only for such purpose. The same cannot be taken to be an adjudication on the issue of citizenship. The function of the ECI would be restricted to inclusion or exclusion from the electoral rolls.

The bench, which consisted of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi, made the verdict in the writ petitions filed against the notification issued by the ECI in June last year to hold SIR in Bihar. The Court held that the SIR process had a nexus with the goal of having free and fair elections.  

CJI Surya Kant, on the matter, said, “In our considered opinion, the impugned SIR does not take the place of the Representation of the People Act and the Rules; it fulfils the constitutional mandate in the exact statutory framework laid out in Section 21(3) of the Act, and it cannot be said that the Commission exceeds its powers.” 

What is the SIR controversy?

The Special Intensive Revision (SIR) stirred up a lot of debate. The Election Commission of India decided it would overhaul Bihar’s voter lists before the elections, which got critics talking.

They were worried that the process would end up unfairly deleting voters and wondered if the Commission actually had the right to go beyond normal updates. People took their concerns all the way to the Supreme Court. In the end, the Court sided with the Election Commission, saying it has clear constitutional authority, thanks to Article 324 and the Representation of the People Act, to make sure voter rolls are accurate, and elections stay free and fair.

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