Can direct ECI to extend deadline for publication of draft electoral rolls if case is made out: Supreme Court in pleas against SIR

“So what? If you make out a case, then we can direct them to extend the date. Can that date be a ground for the court to say that we don’t have any power now? The court can always say,” Chief Justice of India Surya Kant said.

The bench, also comprising Justice Joymalya Bagchi, was hearing petitions challenging the SIR process in West Bengal and Tamil Nadu.

The court asked the ECI to file its counter-affidavit to the petitions and fixed the Tamil Nadu plea for hearing on December 4, and the West Bengal matters on December 9.

Deaths of booth-level officers (BLOs) amid multiple complaints of excessive workload have threatened to disrupt the SIR process in Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Rajasthan, among the 12 States and Union Territories included in the second phase of SIR.

99% forms supplied, 50% digitised in Kerala, says ECI

The bench also asked the ECI and the Kerala State Election Commission to respond to petitions challenging the SIR exercise underway in the state.

While some petitions have urged that the process be postponed, given that Kerala is holding local body polls on December 9 and 11, others have termed the whole exercise unconstitutional.

Opposing pleas to defer the exercise, Senior Advocate Rakesh Dwivedi, appearing for the ECI, said 99 per cent of voters have been supplied with the enumeration forms, and 50 per cent of the forms have been digitised.

“The State Election Commission and the Election Commission of India are collaborating with each other. There was a meeting with the officials of various districts. There is no problem. We just need a small section of BLOs. The Commissions are not finding any difficulty. The SEC also said our work is not hampered,” Dwivedi said.

“In any case, it is almost over. Ninety-nine per cent of the voters have been distributed the forms. More than 50 per cent have been digitised. So there is no difficulty at the level of the State Election Commission and the Central Election Commission,” the ECI counsel added.

Appearing for Kerala, Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal urged the court to take up the Kerala petitions on priority, given the urgency arising from the scheduled elections.

Agreeing, the bench listed the Kerala matters for December 2.