SC tells ECI to consider Kerala plea for extending SIR deadline

The Supreme Court on Tuesday allowed the Kerala government to approach the Election Commission of India (ECI) for seeking an extension of the deadline for submission of enumeration forms under the ongoing special intensive revision (SIR) exercise in view of the ongoing local body elections.

- Abraham Thomas

Abench of Chief Justice of India (CJ) Surya Kant and justice Joymalya Bagchi passed the order on a batch of petitions filed by the Kerala government and representatives of various political parties seeking deferment of the SIR on account of the local body polls to be held on December 9 and II (the counting is on December 13).

The court passed the order after it was convinced by the Election Commission of India (ECI) that the SIR would not impact the local elections. Even the Kerala State Election Commission (KSEC) filed an affidavit clarifying that there is no impediment by SIR in the smooth conduct of elections to the local self governing institutions (LSGD.

“Political parties have a problem but government machinery has no problem,” the bench said.

The SIR conducted by the ECI involves large-scale revision of electoral roll across the state that will require voters to verify their personal details by filling up enumeration forms and trace their name to that of a parent or relative’s name on the last revised electoral roll in the state. The ECI began this exercise in Bihar this year and has now extended it to 13 states and UTs.

Petitions have been filed in the Supreme Court challenging the SIR exercise that has concluded in Bihar. Subsequently, the SIR process in Tamil Nadu, West Bengal,

Uttar Pradesh, Kerala, and Puducherry has also been challenged in court through separate petitions filed by elected representatives, political party leaders and non profit organisations among others..