New Delhi: A public interest litigation has been filed in the Supreme Court raising questions over the functioning of the Election Commission of India and the conduct of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.
The petition has been filed by advocate Shailendra Mani Tripathi under Article 32 of the Constitution.
It raises issues relating to the independence of the Election Commission, voter registration and deletion of names from electoral rolls.
The petitioner has relied on documents and an investigative report published in September 2026.
According to the petition, Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi recorded written objections on at least 14 occasions between November 2025 and August 2026 over decisions taken within the Commission.
One of the main issues raised is the alteration of Form 6, which is used for registration of new voters.
The petition alleges that a requirement relating to the “last SIR” was added to the form without the required statutory amendment.
It also alleges that the change was opposed by the two Election Commissioners.
The petition further alleges that the management of electoral-roll data was increasingly centralised through the ECINet system, affecting the role of Electoral Registration Officers.
It also refers to 97 voters in Goa who, according to the petitioner, were found eligible but could not be restored because the software did not have a required rollback facility.
The petition also raises questions over 16.10 lakh appeals filed in West Bengal in the name of the Election Commission against the restoration of voters. It alleges that the two Election Commissioners and the West Bengal Chief Electoral Officer had not authorised or been aware of these appeals.
The petitioner has asked the Supreme Court to quash the alleged unauthorised changes to Form 6, restore access for Electoral Registration Officers and preserve the digital records of the EC’s electoral-roll systems.
The plea also seeks an independent judicial inquiry or SIT headed by a retired Supreme Court judge to examine the functioning of the electoral-roll systems and the issues raised in the petition.