EC defends Bengal, TN SIRs in top court

{ VOTER DELETION ALLEGATIONS ‘EXAGGERATED’

- HT Correspondent

The Supreme Court is set to hear the pleas against the exercise later this week.

The Election Commission of India (ECI) has filed detailed affidavits in the Supreme Court defending the special intensive revision (SIR) of voter lists in West Bengal and Tamil Nadu, and insisting that the exercise is transparent and constitutionally mandated.

Rejecting claims that the exercise risks disenfranchising lakhs of genuine voters, ECI called the allegations of mass deletion of voters in West Bengal and Tamil Nadu as “exaggerated” and politically engineered.

In its response to a batch of petitions filed by the DMK, CPI(M), West Bengal Congress and Trinamool Congress leaders, ECI told the Court that claims of potential voter exclusion running into lakhs were not just factually incorrect but “highly exaggerated” and “politically motivated”.

The petitions are scheduled to be heard by a bench comprising Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi later this week.