Direction for regular SIR encroaches EC's exclusive domain, poll panel tells SC

The Election Commission (EC) has informed the Supreme Court that any directive to conduct SIR of electoral rolls at regular intervals across the country would amount to an "encroachment" upon its exclusive constitutional domain.

- EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ New Delhi

In a counter-affidavit filed in response to a plea, the EC asserted that it holds "complete discretion" over the policy and timing of electoral roll revisions, to the exclusion of any other authority. The affidavit comes in reply to a petition by advocate Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay, who has sought court directions mandating the EC to carry out SIRs nationwide, particularly before elections, to ensure that only Indian citizens influence the country's polity and policy.