New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday has issued a notice to the Election Commission of India on a plea challenging the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Delhi.
A bench comprising Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice V Mohana asked the Election Commission to file its response.
The court also directed the Election Commission to follow the interim directions passed by the Supreme Court in the SIR cases relating to West Bengal and Bihar and file a status report.
During the hearing, senior advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for the petitioners, said that more than one crore people were issued notices during the SIR exercise in West Bengal.
He said more than 33 lakh people have now been issued notices in Delhi.
Bhushan said that appeals against such notices could remain pending for years, as had happened in West Bengal.
The court asked the Election Commission about the categories of “logical discrepancies” on the basis of which notices were issued.
Appearing for the Election Commission, advocate D.S. Naidu said that the notices clearly mention the reasons.
He also said that the process was being carried out in a time-bound manner.
Chief Justice Surya Kant told the Election Commission that it needed to explain the issue of logical discrepancies more clearly.
The Election Commission said that additional manpower had been deployed to clear pending cases. Naidu said that around 14,000 Booth Level Officers and 1,200 Electoral Registration Officers were working on the process.
He said the deadline was October 29 and that the Election Commission was ready to extend the deadline if required.
The Election Commission also assured the court that no voter would be removed from the electoral roll without due process.
Justice Joymalya Bagchi asked the Election Commission about the number of BLOs deployed after notices were issued to around 30 lakh people.
The petition has been filed by social activists Anjali Bharadwaj and Amrita Johri. They have alleged that the Election Commission and the Delhi Chief Electoral Officer have not provided adequate public information about the SIR process.
According to the petitioners, the draft electoral roll published on August 31 had removed around 47 lakh names from a voter list of around 1.45 crore electors.
They have also alleged that more than 33 lakh people wered issued notices over alleged logical discrepancies.