During the September 15 hearing, the Supreme Court refused to stay the SIR, affirming the EC’s constitutional authority but cautioned that it would nullify the exercise if any illegality was found.
The EC asserted its “exclusive jurisdiction” over conducting SIRs and announced plans to carry out similar revisions nationwide by 2026, rejecting judicial interference in the process.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday will hear petitions challenging Election Commission of India’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of Bihar’s electoral rolls. This will be the SC’s first hearing of these batch of pleas after the ECI released final electoral rolls for the state ahead of its upcoming assembly elections.
A bench of Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi are set to hear final arguments on whether the SIR in Bihar is valid. Earlier the bench had refused to offer any “any piecemeal opinion” on the exercise until it was completed.
The Election Commission of India (ECI) on September 30, this year, released Bihar’s final electoral rolls. After the SIR, the electoral roll list contained over 7.40 crore names.
On the last date of hearing, September 15, this year, the apex court had refused to stay the SIR, saying that the ECI was in itself an institution of constitutional authority, which was following the law during the SIR of the electoral roll. The court, however, warned the ECI that it would set aside the SIR exercise in case of any illegality.
The ECI had, earlier, rejected judicial interference. ECI told the top court that it has “exclusive jurisdiction” to decide when and how to conduct SIRs of electoral rolls. It had added rejecting judicial interference, plans nationwide Special Intensive Revision by 2026.
