New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday raised critical questions to the Election Commission (EC) regarding the recent Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voter lists. The top court sought to know how many voters were removed from the electoral rolls on the grounds of “suspected citizenship.” The matter is being heard by a bench led by Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi.
Supreme Court Seeks Clarity on Citizenship-Based Removals
The bench pointed out that the Election Commission has so far categorized voter deletions under three main reasons—death, duplication, and migration. Senior Advocate Rakesh Dwivedi, representing the EC, was asked whether there exists a separate category for removing names based on “suspected citizenship.” The court emphasized its intent to understand the ground realities of the name deletion process.
Election Commission’s Authority Under Scrutiny
Advocate Dwivedi informed the bench that the EC determines citizenship only for the purpose of voter registration. “The Election Commission cannot deport anyone or decide if a person holds a valid visa to reside in India,” he said.
Petitioner NGO, Association for Democratic Reforms, through lawyer Prashant Bhushan, argued that while there is no dispute that citizenship is required for voting, the key issue is whether the EC has the authority to determine citizenship at all.
Voter Names to Be Made Public
The Supreme Court directed the EC to publish the names of those removed from the draft voter list in Kerala following the SIR process. This is to allow affected voters to raise objections. The bench also asked the EC to consider extending the objection filing deadline to two weeks. The matter pertains to a batch of petitions challenging the SIR process in Kerala, which the court is currently hearing.
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