The Supreme Court will take up on November 11 two petitions filed by an NGO and the ruling DMK in Tamil Nadu challenging the Election Commission's decision to conduct a nationwide special intensive revision of electoral rolls on the lines of the Bihar exercise.
A bench of Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi said it would list the two matters for hearing on November 11 after requests for urgent listing made by Prashant Bhushan, representing the Association for Democratic Rights (ADR), and counsel Vivek Singh for the DMK.
During the morning mentioning time, Bhushan complained that contrary to the assurance and written affidavit filed by the poll panel in the Bihar SIR matter, the Election Commissionn has been declining to accept Aadhaar as proof of identity of voters.
"They (EC) said they would accept Aadhaar, but they are still not accepting it. Very urgent issue,” Bhushan said, requesting an urgent listing.
The DMK has also moved the Supreme Court for quashing the Election Commission's order dated October 27 for conducting SIR drives in Tamil Nadu, Bengal and other states and Union Territories on the ground that it would disenfranchise lakhs of voters across the country, besides affecting the citizenship rights of several others.
"The SIR and the orders, if not set aside, can arbitrarily and without due process disenfranchise lakhs of voters from electing their representatives, thereby disrupting free and fair elections and democracy in the country, which are part of the basic structure of the Constitution.
"The documentation requirements of the directive, lack of due process as well as the unreasonably short timeline for the SIR in Tamil Nadu make this exercise bound to result in removal of names of lakhs of genuine voters from electoral rolls leading to their disenfranchisement," said the petition filed through advocate Singh by R.S. Bharathi, organising secretary of the DMK and a former Rajya Sabha member.
Apart from Bengal and Tamil Nadu, the SIR will be conducted in Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Lakshadweep, Kerala and Puducherry in this phase. Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Puducherry have elections in 2026.