SC tells ECI to consider Kerala plea for extending SIR deadline

A bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant and justice Joymalya Bagchi passed the order on a batch of petitions filed by the Kerala government and representatives of various political parties seeking deferment of the SIR on account of the local body polls to be held on December 9 and 11 (the counting is on December 13).

The court passed the order after it was convinced by the Election Commission of India (ECI) that the SIR would not impact the local elections. Even the Kerala State Election Commission (KSEC) filed an affidavit clarifying that there is no impediment by SIR in the smooth conduct of elections to the local self governing institutions (LSGI).

The bench remarked, “Political parties have a problem but government machinery has no problem.”

The SIR conducted by the ECI involves large-scale revision of electoral roll across the state that will require voters to verify their personal details by filling up enumeration forms and trace their name to that of a parent or relative’s name on the last revised electoral roll in the state. The ECI began this exercise in Bihar this year and has now extended it to 13 states and UTs.