New Delhi: The Supreme Court Tuesday issued a notice to the Election Commission of India (EC) on a petition challenging the EC’s decision to conduct only a special revision instead of a Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in Assam ahead of the 2026 assembly polls.
The notice was issued by a bench comprising Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi. The court has posted the matter for next Tuesday.
The petition, filed by Mrinal Kumar Choudhury, former President of the Gauhati High Court Bar Association, asserts that the EC directed only a Special Revision in Assam and that it was done “in a most arbitrary and discriminatory manner… even though there is no difference in the ground realities between state of Assam and twelve other states where Special Intensive Revision is being conducted”.
After completion of the SIR in poll-bound Bihar, the EC had in October announced its next phase of SIR in 12 states and union territories. The list includes West Bengal, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry, which have assembly polls due next year. The EC had cited the unique citizenship provisions for Assam under the Citizenship Act, as well as the Supreme Court monitored citizenship identification process (National Register of Citizens).
Then last month, the EC ordered only a Special Revision of electoral rolls in Assam. As per EC officials, the Special Revision exercise stands somewhere between the annual special summary revision and the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. Officials explained that the electors in Assam’s case did not need to fill in enumeration forms, as is the case in other states undergoing a Special Intensive Revision.
Choudhury’s petition, seen by ThePrint, says that the population of Assam has increased at a speed much higher than the rest of the country. “This is primarily for the reason that there is a large scale of illegal immigrants in the state from the neighbouring countries,” it asserts, saying that the EC is under a Constitutional mandate to revise the electoral roll and that the decision to conduct an intensive or a summary revision “has to be taken on the basis of ground realities”.
Plea against SIR in UP
The Supreme Court is hearing a bunch of petitions challenging the SIR exercise in various states. This includes petitions filed by the DMK, CPI(M), Association for Democratic Reforms, and West Bengal MP Dola Sen.
Another petition was filed on 28 November, challenging the SIR exercise in Uttar Pradesh as well as throughout the nation.
This plea, filed by former MP and Samajwadi Party member Arvind Kumar Singh, says that the revision of the electoral roll in Uttar Pradesh was “totally flawed, biased and has prejudiced and hampered the well being of several individuals”.
“The said Notification and Orders are not only arbitrary but cause significant damage to the innocent electorate in the state. The petitioner challenges the constitutional validity of the Notification of the Election Commission of India and the subsequent Orders passed pursuant to the Notification by the CEO, UP, through this petition, for it being a gross abuse of power, unfair, unconstitutional and disenfranchises lakhs of voters from electing their representatives,” it says.
The petition asserts that the notification is “not only arbitrary but causes significant damage for the innocent electorate in the State”. The notification has been challenged for being “a gross abuse of power, unfair, unconstitutional and disenfranchises lakhs of voters from electing their representatives”.
“This in turn disrupts the very foundation of our democracy, which would eventually cause a rupture to the basic structure of our Constitution,” the petition submits.
It highlights several concerns with regard to the SIR exercise, including the “unreasonable” timeline leading to “unreasonable work expectations”, and lack of practical and professional training, along which a demand that the SIR should strive for a searchable database.
(Edited by Viny Mishra)
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