Supreme Court of India upheld the legality
and constitutional validity of the Special Intensive Revision of electoral
rolls conducted in Bihar by the Election Commission of India
¨
Supreme Court of India
upheld the legality and constitutional validity of the Special Intensive
Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls conducted in Bihar by the Election Commission
of India (ECI).
¨
The bench comprised Surya
Kant and Joymalya Bagchi.
¨
The Special Intensive
Revision (SIR) is an electoral roll revision exercise undertaken by the
Election Commission of India to verify and update voter lists.
¨
In Bihar, the exercise
covered approximately 7.9 crore registered voters.
¨
After the revision
process, the final electoral roll contained 7.42 crore electors.
¨
The Supreme Court held
that the Election Commission of India (ECI) has the authority to conduct the
SIR under Article 324 of the Constitution.
¨
The Court also interpreted
Section 21(3) of the Representation of the People Act, 1950, along with Article
324, as providing the legal basis for the exercise.
¨
Article 324 vests the
superintendence, direction, and control of elections in the Election Commission
of India.
¨
Section 21 of the
Representation of the People Act, 1950, deals with the preparation and revision
of electoral rolls.
¨
The Court stated that the
ECI may examine citizenship-related questions for electoral purposes.
¨
However, the Commission
cannot make final determinations on citizenship status, as that power rests
with competent authorities under the Citizenship Act.
¨
The Court directed the
ECI to refer cases involving deletion from the 2003 electoral rolls on grounds
of non-citizenship to the appropriate authority under the Citizenship Act
within four weeks.
¨ If a person is subsequently found to be an Indian citizen, their name must be restored to the electoral roll.
¨ The judgment clarifies the ECI’s powers in electoral roll revision while maintaining the distinction between electoral administration and formal citizenship determination.
