The Supreme Court affirms the Election Commission's authority to conduct SIR, stating it is necessary for fair elections.

The Supreme Court of India, on Wednesday, affirmed the authority of the Election Commission to carry out a Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise of electoral rolls. The court stated that this exercise is in line with the constitutional obligation of ensuring free and fair elections. The bench, headed by Chief Justice Surya Kant, also noted that the poll panel did not exceed its statutory powers by conducting SIR.

The court further stated that the SIR exercise is not just for administrative convenience, but it actually promotes the constitutional imperative of free and fair elections. This comes after several petitions challenging the SIR, claiming that the Election Commission does not have the power to carry out such a large-scale revision of electoral rolls under Article 326 of the Constitution and the Representation of the People Act, 1950. The top court had reserved its verdict on January 29, after hearing arguments from various parties, including the NGO Association for Democratic Reforms.

The SIR exercise was conducted in Bihar as part of the first phase of the exercise. The final arguments in the matter began on August 12 last year, with the court stating that the inclusion or exclusion of names in the electoral rolls is the responsibility of the Election Commission. During the SIR exercise, the Election Commission removed the names of 65 lakh individuals from the draft electoral rolls.

The SIR notification stated that individuals who were not present in the 2002 or 2003 rolls had to prove their ancestral connection with someone who was present in those rolls. The Election Commission defended this exercise, stating that Aadhaar and voter identity cards cannot be considered as conclusive proof of citizenship. The petitioners raised concerns that the SIR exercise was similar to the National Register of Citizens (NRC) process, where the Election Commission was verifying citizenship, a power that belongs to the central government.

However, the court ruled in favor of the Election Commission, stating that the SIR exercise is necessary to ensure fair and transparent elections for the benefit of the country.