Supreme Court upholds ECI’s Special Intensive Revision exercise, allows citizenship scrutiny with safeguards

The Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld the authority of the Election Commission of India (ECI) to conduct the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise, ruling that the poll body had acted within its constitutional and statutory powers while carrying out the revision of electoral rolls in Bihar.

The verdict came on a batch of petitions challenging the SIR process, with petitioners questioning the legality and constitutional validity of the exercise.

The court held that the ECI had not transgressed any constitutional or legal provisions and affirmed that the poll body has the power to revise electoral rolls under the constitutional framework and the Representation of the People Act.

The apex court also upheld the ECI’s authority to scrutinise citizenship as part of the revision process. However, it clarified that exclusion from the electoral rolls would not automatically result in a person losing citizenship status.

The court stressed that any deletion of names on citizenship-related grounds would remain subject to further adjudication. It directed the ECI to refer individuals whose names were removed due to an inability to establish citizenship to the appropriate authority for suitable legal determination.

The Supreme Court observed that the SIR exercise has a “direct nexus with free and fair elections” and said the process pursued a legitimate constitutional objective.

“Having regard to the nature of the problem sought to be addressed, the scale of the exercise undertaken and the procedural safeguards incorporated during its implementation, the measures adopted by the Commission cannot be said to be disproportionate to the objective sought to be achieved,” the court said.

The SIR exercise was launched in Bihar in June last year as an electoral roll verification and clean-up initiative aimed at identifying and removing bogus, duplicate and ineligible entries, including deceased individuals and alleged illegal immigrants.

The move drew criticism from Opposition parties, which alleged that the exercise amounted to a politically motivated voter list revision intended to benefit the ruling BJP.

The Supreme Court, however, also endorsed the procedures adopted by the ECI during the exercise, finding that the process was built around a legitimate purpose and contained adequate safeguards.