The Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to entertain a plea by the Association for Democratic Rights (ADR) asking it to seek the response of the Election Commission on a national newspaper's report that lakhs of “pre-filled notices” for deletion of voters were issued by the poll panel from its central office in Delhi during the recent SIR exercise in Bihar.

The apex court said it cannot issue a notice to the poll panel on a statement made based on newspaper reports unless the petitioner files relevant material relating to the allegations in the form of an affidavit. A bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi declined to entertain the arguments of ADR counsel Prashant Bhushan, who made the allegation while referring to a report which appeared in the daily on Tuesday.

Bhushan said that in terms of Section 23 of the Representation of Peoples Act, only the local electoral registration officer can issue such a notice in an area, but such an exercise cannot be undertaken on a massive scale by the Election Commission from its central office. He said the drive had affected the rights of 10 lakh voters. These notices essentially sought to delete the names of lakhs of voters in the form of pre-filled verification forms. Bhusan said the allegations were serious and an explanation must be sought from the poll panel.

However, senior advocate Rakesh Dwivedi, appearing for the Election Commission, strongly opposed the arguments, saying that if the organisation had any evidence or material, it should be placed before the court in an affidavit. Only then could such an allegation be examined. “As per procedure, they (EC) can be asked to file a reply only if you bring something on record before use by way of an affidavit,” the CJI said, declining to entertain any plea on the issue.