New Delhi, October 14: The Supreme Court on Wednesday scheduled a hearing for October 28 on a plea seeking greater transparency in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Delhi, including the publication of voter notice lists along with the specific reasons for issuing each notice.
Advocate Prashant Bhushan, representing the petitioners, mentioned the matter before a Bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi, requesting an early hearing ahead of the October 30 deadline for filing claims and objections.
Bhushan informed the court that the petitioners had filed an application seeking a mechanism to facilitate the inclusion of eligible voters whose names were omitted from Delhi’s electoral rolls during the SIR exercise. The application argues that previously enrolled voters should not be required to declare that they are applying for inclusion for the first time.
The Bench advanced the hearing to October 28. When Bhushan requested an earlier date, the court observed that it was considering passing an order to address the concerns raised.
The petitioners have also urged the court to direct the Election Commission (EC) not to reject otherwise valid claims for inclusion or restoration solely because applicants have not submitted an additional SIR declaration form.
They have sought an appropriate form or declaration for previously enrolled electors whose names have been removed from the voter list. Form 6 is ordinarily used by eligible individuals to apply for inclusion in electoral rolls.
The application further seeks disclosure of the criteria, definitions, algorithmic parameters and operational guidelines used to classify voters under the category of “logical discrepancies”.
On September 22, while agreeing to hear the main petition filed by Anjali Bhardwaj and Amrita Johri, the Supreme Court had expressed concern that SIR notices were being issued to voters “almost mechanically”. It had asked the Election Commission to consider additional safeguards and clarify the basis for identifying logical discrepancies.
On September 26, the Election Commission extended the deadline for filing claims and objections under the Delhi SIR exercise by one month, until October 30. The final electoral roll is scheduled to be published on December 4.
According to the draft electoral rolls published on August 31, around 47 lakh names were removed from Delhi’s electorate of approximately 1.45 crore voters.
The Election Commission attributed the deletions to multiple reasons, including more than 43.32 lakh voters who had shifted residence or were absent, over 2.82 lakh deceased voters and more than 1.41 lakh entries involving voters registered at multiple locations.
The Supreme Court’s upcoming hearing is expected to address concerns over the treatment of previously registered voters, the transparency of the revision process and safeguards for eligible electors seeking restoration of their names.
