New Delhi, Oct 27: The Supreme Court on Tuesday granted petitioners 10 days to respond to the Election Commission’s affidavit defending the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, as a separate plea alleged that changes were made to Form 6 during the Bihar exercise without the court’s approval.
A bench comprising Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana asked senior advocate Vikas Singh, appearing for petitioner Rakesh Kumar Singh, to file a rejoinder to the poll panel’s affidavit, which was submitted late Monday evening.
The bench also referred to the Election Commission’s position that the SIR exercise was authorised by law and that the relevant orders had been approved unanimously by all three members of the poll panel. The Chief Justice said all issues would be examined.
In its 248-page affidavit, the EC defended the SIR and rejected allegations that the statutory Form 6 used for voter registration had been amended.
“The attempt to make aspersions against the Election Commission is unfortunate,” the affidavit, filed by Deputy Election Commissioner Bhanu Prakash Yeturu on behalf of the poll panel, said.
The EC also said the affidavit had been approved unanimously by all three members of the commission.
The bench also issued notices to the poll panel and other respondents on a fresh petition filed by Rajya Sabha MP Dola Sen, who alleged that changes had been made to Form 6 during the Bihar SIR without the Supreme Court’s approval.
Senior advocate and MP Maneka Guruswamy, appearing for Sen, submitted that the EC had wrongly claimed that the changes to Form 6 had been approved by the apex court.
The petitions follow a report published by The Indian Express on September 25 stating that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had objected on record at least 14 times over the preceding 10 months to SIR-related decisions and orders that they said had been issued without their knowledge or recommendation.
The report triggered protests by opposition parties and the group identified in the supplied copy as the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), with demands for the removal of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.
PTI