Supreme Court Adjourns Hearings on Election Commission Petitions

The Supreme Court of India adjourned its hearings on Tuesday concerning multiple petitions challenging the functioning of the Election Commission of India (ECI) and irregularities during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. A bench led by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant granted petitioners a 10-day window to file their rejoinders in response to a 250-page affidavit submitted by the poll body.

The legal scrutiny follows heightened political friction and petitions filed by opposition leaders, including the Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi, alongside other litigants questioning the ECI's decision-making processes. Senior Advocate Menaka Guruswamy, representing Trinamool Congress MP Dola Sen, argued before the apex court that the ECI's recent affidavit acknowledged tampering with the online version of Form 6 used for voter registrations.

Guruswamy contended that the ECI previously released statements claiming the Supreme Court had authorized amended versions of Form 6, an assertion she challenged. According to Guruswamy, the ECI justified the changes by referencing a past court allowance regarding the Bihar SIR, even though that particular form pertained to citizenship and caste rather than Form 6.

Appearing for the ECI, Senior Advocate Maninder Singh rejected these claims, stating that the opposing counsel was resorting to rhetoric for unrelated purposes. The ECI's counter-affidavit maintains that Form 6 was not officially altered, but rather amended online to facilitate the SIR process by requiring a single OTP and e-sign. The poll body stated that the inclusion of an additional declaration format, referred to as mapping, was meant to simplify verification by linking current applicants to historical electoral rolls.

The petitions also address internal friction within the electoral body, touching on allegations that the Chief Election Commissioner and fellow commissioners did not convene for extended periods and that critical IT oversight decisions faced opposition. While the ECI defended its internal file-routing and decision-making mechanisms, the Supreme Court emphasized that it would thoroughly examine the administrative processes once the formal rejoinders are submitted.

In parallel developments regarding the implementation of the SIR, electoral authorities published final voter rolls across several regions. In Karnataka, the final roll released on Tuesday revealed a significant reduction, with more than 99.32 lakh names removed. The state's electorate decreased from over 5.54 crore to approximately 4.55 crore voters, an exercise the ECI stated was designed to maintain a clean voter list by eliminating ineligible entries.