Can’t stop SIR, will set it aside if found illegal: SC

{ MORE TRANSPARENCY SOUGHT FROM ECI

- Utkarsh Anand

The Supreme Court on Monday observed that it cannot restrain the Election Commission of India (ECI) from conducting its ongoing special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls across the states, emphasising that the legality of the process will ultimately be decided at the stage of final judgment.

Until then, the court said, the commission, as a constitutional body, must be presumed to act in accordance with its constitutional responsibilities and that any breach could invite its intervention.

A bench of justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi made the remarks while adjourning till October 7 the hearing of a batch of petitions challenging SIR, including the one being carried out in election-bound Bihar. Petitioners, led by civil society groups and opposition parties, had pressed for an urgent hearing before October 1, the date of publication of the final voters' list in Bihar, but the court refused, saying that the pending Dussehra vacation would not make such scheduling feasible.