Maharashtra SIR Under Supreme Court Scrutiny After 2.06 Crore Voters Dropped

The Supreme Court on Monday sought responses from the Centre, the Election Commission of India (ECI) and other authorities on a petition challenging the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Maharashtra, where more than 20.68 million voters have been excluded from the draft list.

A bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana issued notices on a plea filed by Arun Anandagiri, a chartered accountant and journalist. The court scheduled the next hearing for November 5.

Senior advocate Arvind Datar, appearing for the petitioner, submitted that several voters temporarily displaced by redevelopment projects in Mumbai and Pune had been removed from the electoral rolls after being categorised as “person not found” at their registered addresses.

The petition also raised concerns over the exclusion of electors under the category of “logical discrepancies”, alleging that around 12.2 million voters had been struck off on this basis.

Citing the impact of the revision exercise, the petitioner urged the Supreme Court to keep the process in Maharashtra in abeyance until the matter is adjudicated. He also sought directions to ensure that no voter whose name appeared on the pre-SIR electoral rolls was excluded or deleted pending the court's decision.

According to data released by the office of Maharashtra's Chief Electoral Officer, 20,688,487 electors, or 21.14 per cent of the state's registered voters, were excluded from the draft electoral rolls following the exercise.

The state had 97,854,049 registered voters before the revision. Officials said the excluded electors could not be traced at their given addresses during the SIR process.

The petition has brought scrutiny to the criteria used to identify and exclude voters, particularly those who may have temporarily relocated because of redevelopment or other circumstances.

The Supreme Court's proceedings will examine the challenge to the revision process, with the next hearing scheduled for November 5.