Vijay’s TVK Takes Legal Battle To Supreme Court Against SIR, Tamil Nadu Politics Braces For High-Stakes Clash

Actor Vijay’s TVK (Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam) party has approached the Supreme Court against the decision of the Election Commission of India (ECI) to carry out Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the voter roll in Tamil Nadu.

TVK’s petition that has been filed via Advocates Dixita Gohil, Pranjal Agarwal, Shikhar Aggarwal, and Yash S. Vijay requests the quashing and setting aside of the ECI’s notification dated October 27th that is involving the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process in ten States and Union Territories, including Tamil Nadu.

The petition claims that SIR is a terrible violation of constitutional rights under Articles 14, 19, 21, 325, and 326 and also goes against legal provisions under Sections 21 and 23 of the Representation of the People Act, 1950 (ROPA).

Additionally, the plea contends that SIR amounts to a de novo (afresh) preparation of electoral rolls without any recorded reasons or justification, violating the statutory requirement under ROPA.

The SIR process, the plea contends, violates the right of continuity of electors on rolls by allowing deletion of names without notice or hearing. Thus, it contravenes Supreme Court precedents and statutory safeguards under Rule 21A of the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960, the plea states.

“In the motion filed by the petitioner, the SIR imposes heavy and highly arbitrary documentary requirements on voters, which is a case of discrimination against the socially and economically weaker sections, and it also gives a wrong impression of the State’s incompetence in ascertaining citizenry since it places the burden of proof on the voters instead of the State. It is contended that the SIR process involving a compressed timeframe and procedural anomalies constitutes a violation of the law, is arbitrary, and goes against the very principles of justice as it is with regard to the rights of the parties concerned in objection and appeal being inadequately provided”, it states the plea.

The plea has also pointed out some problems with the SIR procedure very importantly that the time when the revision exercise is taking place is most likely to be when there will be floods, and that the floods will not only cause logistic problems but also be an administrative burden as government officials and BLOs may be released for flood rescue operations.

“The BLOs are not properly trained and equipped with documents, like they are not provided with the revision lists from previous exercises and there are not enough enumeration forms; thus, the process is arbitrary and rushed,” the plea goes on to say.

It points out that “there is insufficient public information about the document verification and enumeration procedures and no accountability for the BLOs who do not carry out their visits or do not verify the details correctly.”

“Certain groups of people such as migrant workers, orphans, and married women without documents suffer unreasonable difficulties because of different documentary requirements, and the online system used is prone to errors and does not have a mechanism for handling complaints,” has been reported by the plea.

All Inputs From ANI

Also Read: Submitting Your SIR Enumeration Form Online? Don’t Miss This Quick and Easy Online Guide