New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to examine a petition challenging the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Maharashtra, where more than 2.06 crore electors have been excluded from the draft voters’ list. The court issued notices to the Centre, the Election Commission of India (ECI) and other respondents, and scheduled the next hearing for November 5.
A bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana took up the petition filed by Arun Anandagiri, a chartered accountant and journalist, who has challenged the exercise and sought safeguards against the deletion of voters’ names.
Appearing for the petitioner, senior advocate Arvind Datar told the court that people who had temporarily shifted from their residences because of redevelopment projects in Mumbai and Pune had allegedly been marked as “person not found” and excluded from the electoral rolls.
Datar submitted that around two crore voters out of Maharashtra’s electorate of approximately 9.79 crore had been removed from the draft rolls. He also referred to another 1.22 crore electors allegedly flagged under the category of “logical discrepancies”.
Plea seeks suspension of revision exercise
The petition has sought an interim halt to the SIR process in Maharashtra until the Supreme Court adjudicates the challenge. It has also requested the court to direct that no voter whose name appeared on the electoral rolls before the revision be excluded or deleted in the meantime.
The petitioner’s case raises concerns about the possible exclusion of eligible voters, particularly those who may have temporarily relocated because of redevelopment, without their absence necessarily indicating that they are no longer entitled to remain on the rolls.
The Supreme Court’s decision to issue notices means the respondents will have an opportunity to respond to the allegations and the relief sought. The court has not yet ruled on the merits of the challenge or granted the requested interim protection.
Over 20.68 million voters missing from draft rolls
Figures released by the office of Maharashtra’s Chief Electoral Officer show that 20,688,487 electors, representing 21.14 per cent of the state’s 97,854,049 registered voters, were excluded from the draft electoral rolls prepared after the SIR exercise.
According to the state electoral authorities, these voters could not be traced at the addresses recorded against their names during the revision process.
The scale of the exclusions has become a central issue in the legal challenge. The petition questions the implications of removing large numbers of electors and seeks protection for those whose names appeared on the rolls before the exercise.
The reference to “logical discrepancies” also figures in the petitioner’s submissions, although the precise categories and their relationship to the total number of excluded electors will require clarification from the relevant authorities.
November 5 hearing to be crucial
The Supreme Court has sought responses from the Centre, the ECI and other respondents before taking the matter forward. The next hearing, scheduled for November 5, is expected to bring the competing submissions before the bench.
The proceedings will determine how the court considers the petitioner’s demand to suspend the revision exercise and prevent further deletions pending adjudication.
For now, the draft electoral rolls remain the subject of a legal challenge, and the final outcome will depend on the responses filed by the authorities and the court’s subsequent directions.
