(MENAFN- Live Mint) The Supreme Court on Tuesday sought separate responses from the Election Commission (EC) on petitions filed by the DMK, CPI(M), West Bengal Congress, and Trinamool Congress leaders challenging the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Tamil Nadu and West Bengal.

A bench comprising Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi directed the EC to file its replies within two weeks. The apex court also instructed the Madras and Calcutta High Courts to put on hold any ongoing proceedings related to challenges against the SIR exercise in the two states, PTI reported.

It also allowed the listing of an intervention application filed by the AIADMK in support of the SIR in Tamil Nadu.

What did the petitioner say?

During a brief hearing, senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing in the court for the ruling DMK in Tamil Nadu, said the exercise is being done hurriedly, without following due process, and different sets of documents are being sought from voters.

He said the northeast monsoon in Tamil Nadu is always heavy during November-December, and the coastal districts experience heavy to very heavy rains during this season.

“According to the meteorological department, this year, heavier rain than usual is predicted. Because of this, the common people will be preparing for the same and the revenue officials who are enlisted as BLOs, EROs, AEROs will have to manage the flood relief as well. Hence, practically, this is not a conducive time for conducting the above exercises,” Sibal said.

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Justice Kant said in a country as big as India, some states will always face natural calamities.

Sibal said there is very poor connectivity in certain areas of the southern state and there will be difficulties in uploading documents.

“Similarly, in West Bengal also, rural connectivity is very poor and much bad with regard to Tamil Nadu,” he said.

The bench said,“It appears that the case being projected before us is that for the first time, electoral rolls are being prepared. We also know the ground realities. There is a constitutional authority which is doing the exercise and it is mandated to do it. Earlier also, it has been done.”

Justice Kant said the problem is that everybody wants "status quo".

Sibal said the petitioners want the EC to do its work but not in this fashion and hurriedly.

The bench said political parties should not be apprehensive of the exercise and the EC will give all details related to it.

“If we are satisfied that there is something wrong, we will annul the entire exercise,” the court said.

On the argument that different modalities are being adopted in Tamil Nadu, compared to what was followed in Bihar during the SIR exercise, the bench said it means that the EC has rectified its mistakes.

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Sibal said the Bihar SIR has nothing to do with the exercise in Tamil Nadu and the situation and conditions are different in the two states.

Senior advocate Rakesh Dwivedi, appearing in the court for the EC, sought to file replies to the fresh petitions.

Senior advocate Kalyan Banerjee, appearing for Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Dola Sen, said they too have filed the petition challenging the SIR in West Bengal.

Advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing in the matter for NGO Association for Democratic Reforms, questioned various“procedural irregularities” on the EC's part like issuing a machine-readable voter list in Bihar.

The bench said notices are being issued to the EC on all the fresh petitions and the court will look into the pleas after the poll panel's response.

It told the EC,“You should adopt the best practice and experience of the Bihar SIR in exercises which are to be conducted in other states. However, you should always keep in mind the local conditions.”

The court listed the matter for further hearing on November 26 and 27, and said it will hear the arguments on the interim relief sought by different political leaders, such as a stay on the SIR.

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Besides Sen, West Bengal Congress leader Shubhankar Sarkar, DMK's R S Bharathi, CPI-M's P Shanmugam and other leaders have filed separate petitions challenging the SIR in Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Puducherry.

In his plea filed through advocate Vivek Singh, Bharathi has claimed that the exercise is violative of Articles 14, 19 and 21 (rights to equality, freedom of speech and life) and other provisions of the Constitution, the Representation of the People Act and the Registration of Electors Rules of 1960.

The CPI(M) has challenged the constitutional validity of the EC's directive to conduct the SIR in Tamil Nadu, terming the process“arbitrary, illegal and unconstitutional”.

Meanwhile, the AIADMK has supported the poll panel's decision to conduct the SIR in the southern state, calling it a "legitimate and necessary" exercise to uphold the sanctity of elections and prevent voter fraud.

EC's announcement of SIR

On October 27, the EC announced the conduct of the second phase of the SIR across 12 states and Union Territories, to be conducted between November and February next year.

The states and UTs covered in this phase are the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Lakshadweep, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Gujarat, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Puducherry, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal.

Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, Kerala, and West Bengal are slated to hold assembly elections in 2026. The EC also clarified that for Assam, where polls are similarly due in 2026, the schedule for the electoral roll revision will be announced separately.

The second phase of the SIR began on November 4 and will continue until December 4. The draft electoral rolls will be published on December 9, with the final rolls scheduled for release on February 7.

(With inputs from PTI)

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