Bhushan: They are not giving that 2003 list. They are saying it will serve as a base. That list should be available to people in a searchable form. So if I want to search if my name is there, I should be able to search it. Especially because booth numbers have changed now.

Bhushan: An acknowledgement slip should be given to all voters who submit the enumeration forms. And the enumeration forms are not being uploaded on the website. There is no proof to show that I have given the enumeration form. If tomorrow my name is deleted on this basis I have no proof to show.

Advocate Prashant Bhushan: This is the main case. Please see our interim prayers on the general conduct of SIR. One is to direct ECI not to determine citizenship through SIR; they don’t have the power to do so. They are again and again saying this.

Justice Kant: This will ultimately arise in the final matter. If they don’t have power they can’t do it.

Bhushan: There are multiple entries for the same person. There is a de-duplication software that the ECI already has. They are not using it. The manual says you have to hold a Gram Sabha at the booth level. The exercise is that you issue a notice that there will be a Sabha in the particular booth, and everyone who is a voter here may come. They used to do this. This exercise is also not being done. It’s either called a social audit or a booth-level Sabha or gram Sabha.

Justice Kant: Bengal matter we’ll take up on 26th.

Sibal: After 2 weeks. 25th would be the right day. It would be an auspicious day for all of us.

Justice Kant: 26th November. By Monday (24th) make sure you file your counter.

Dwivedi: There are 12 states where this exercise is being undertaken. The high courts may not take up. Calcutta High Court has fixed a time period.

Justice Kant: Yes, we will ask the High Courts to keep the proceedings in abeyance.

Order: since this court is dealing with the matter pertaining to the validity of SIR of electoral rolls of various states, including Bihar, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Pondicherry, etc, we request the jurisdictional High Courts to keep in abeyance the writ proceedings, if any, touching the validity of the SIR of electoral rolls in their respective states.

Justice Kant: We are granting 2 weeks' time.

Sibal: Larger issue on the law we are arguing separately.

Justice Kant: Yes, on factual and other issues, they will verify and respond to it.

Sibal: It cannot happen in one month. Bengal is much worse. There is no connectivity. There is no 5g no 4g.

Justice Kant: You people want to protect as if the voter list is being prepared for the first time in the country.

Sibal: This never used to happen before. It took 3 years earlier. Now they’re saying one month. Ultimately, lakhs of people are going to be excluded.

Justice Kant: You file your counter affidavit. We are issuing notice. If we are satisfied, we will annul the exercise. We are issuing notice in all the writ petitions.

Sibal: Lakhs of forms cannot be digitised before the publication. This will ultimately be a farcical exercise. (Sibal reads from his argument note)

Sibal: Why this great hurry? We don’t understand.

Justice Kant: Everybody wants a status quo.

Sibal: This is not an adversarial exercise. But what we see down the road it’s like that. We are giving suggestions.

Order: issue notice. Let counter affidavit….

Justice Kant: I think they have rectified a deficiency.

Sibal: There are areas where there is no connectivity at all. Where will you upload all these things? We don’t have a timeline for submitting documents, determining who will serve the notice, or specifying the format of the notice, among other details. Nothing is specified.

Justice Kant: Why are you people so apprehensive? They’ll have to answer. They’ll do it.

Sibal: The process has started. Previously, at least during the exercise, notice was given. Now they have changed that process.

Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal (for TN on behalf of Bharti): if you have an exercise like this which applies across the board… the situation in different states is different. This monsoon season in TN there would be a lot of rain… that might not be in other states. It’s always heavy during November and December. It’s not uniform across the country. The BLOs etc will have to manage the flood relief as well. Dec Jan is harvest season too in TN. Time is not conducive. Christmas vacations will also be declared; there might be minimal participation in the enumeration process. This may not be relevant in other states.

Senior Advocate Rakesh Dwivedi (for ECI): There are fresh petitions filed from Bengal, Tamil Nadu, we have not been served copies.

Justice Kant: we haven’t issued notice. We’ll hear those fresh matters first.

While the Bihar SIR case has been heard by the court on multiple occasions, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal will be heard for the first time today.

The Supreme Court is hearing a batch of petitions challenging the Election Commission of India’s (ECI) June 24 directive for a Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar.

The Court is also hearing a batch of fresh petitions challenging the extension of SIR to other States including Tamil Nadu and West Bengal.

While SIR in Tamil Nadu has been challenged by DMK party, the exercise in West Bengal has been assailed by the State unit of Congress party.

A Bench of Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi is hearing the matter.

The petitioners in the Bihar SIR case have raised concerns that the SIR process permits arbitrary deletion of voters without adequate safeguards, potentially disenfranchising lakhs of citizens and undermining free and fair elections.

The ECI has defended SIR asserting that it is empowered to undertake such an exercise and that the revision is crucial to ensure that only eligible citizens are included in the electoral rolls ahead of the upcoming Bihar Assembly elections.

It was earlier informed that 65 lakh names were dropped from the Bihar draft electoral roll published on August 1. On August 14, the Court directed the ECI to upload the list of these 65 lakh voters proposed to be deleted during the SIR.

On August 22, the Court ordered that people excluded from the draft electoral roll can use their Aadhaar cards as ID proof to get themselves included in the voters' list. Before this, the ECI had stated that it would only accept any of eleven other ID documents for this purpose. 

Later, the Court directed the ECI to issue a formal notice stating that Aadhaar will be accepted as an identity proof document for the inclusion of a voter to the revised voters' list being prepared as part of the SIR.

The SIR was completed on September 30. As against 7.89 crore voters on June 24 in Bihar, 7.42 crore electors were retained in the voter list. 

The number of deletions also came down from 65 lakh to 47 lakh.

The Court then declined to pass any blanket order on the exclusions and inclusions in the voters list. Instead, it asked the affected individuals to file appeals to the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of the State.

During the hearing of the matter on October 16, the Court said that the ECI is aware about its responsibility to disclose the voter data on completion of the SIR.

Senior Advocate Rakesh Dwivedi, appearing for the ECI, submitted that a court direction was not required and the data would be published.

Live updates from today's hearing here.