'Deal with it or it will cause anarchy', SC to EC as it flags threats to BLOs doing SIR work

Can't Election Commission decide presumptive stage of citizenship, asks SC

- MPOST BUREAU

The Supreme Court on Tuesday raised sharp concerns over reports of booth-level officers being threatened during the Election Commission's Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls in several states and asked the Commission to deal with the situation or “it will cause anarchy”. A bench of Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi, which is hearing a series of petitions challenging the revision exercise known as SIR 2.0, said the Commission must ensure field work proceeds without disruption and added that the court would intervene if instances of intimidation or noncooperation were brought to its attention.

During the hearing, the bench dealt with two parallel sets of issues. One involved allegations of attacks and obstruction in states such as West Bengal, where petitioners claimed BLOs performing SIR duties had faced violence. The second centred on whether the Election Commission is constitutionally empowered to conduct inquiries into doubtful citizenship while revising electoral rolls, a question that has sparked intense debate among petitioners opposing the SIR process.

Senior advocate Rakesh Dwivedi, representing the Election Commission, told the bench that the poll authority had already written a strong letter to the West Bengal government after BLOs reported threats, interference and the gherao of a state election office. According to him, state administrations are obligated to provide protection to officials engaged in revision work. “If the state government refuses to cooperate, then we have no option other than taking local police under deputation?” he said, adding that the Commission could request central forces if the situation deteriorates further.