All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi on Wednesday approached the Supreme Court challenging the manner in which the Election Commission of India (ECI) is conducting the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. The petition was mentioned before a bench comprising Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi by advocate Nizamuddin Pasha, who appeared for the Hyderabad MP. Pasha submitted that the plea raised concerns over the procedure being followed during the SIR exercise and urged the court to hear it alongside other petitions challenging the revision process.
The bench agreed to consider Owaisi’s plea along with other pending matters concerning the electoral roll revision. Pasha also requested that the petition be listed with similar cases scheduled to come up before the apex court on Thursday. During the hearing, the counsel referred to the related petitions and told the bench that the relevant cases had been identified in the memorandum accompanying his request for listing. The bench indicated that it would examine the matter and consider its listing alongside the other pleas.
Owaisi’s move comes amid a series of legal challenges by Opposition leaders questioning the conduct of the SIR exercise and raising concerns over alleged irregularities in electoral processes. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and 10 other prominent Opposition leaders have also approached the Supreme Court, seeking judicial scrutiny of alleged malpractices in the SIR and related electoral procedures.
In their petition, Gandhi and the other leaders have sought directions to the ECI to produce records concerning decisions taken in connection with the revision exercise. These include complete files, agendas, minutes of meetings, internal notings and objections recorded by the Election Commissioners regarding each of the disputed decisions.
The petitioners have also sought access to the relevant logs of ECINET and ERONET, the Election Commission’s digital platforms associated with electoral management and electoral roll services. The demand seeks to bring the records of the decision-making process and changes made to electoral databases under closer scrutiny.
The Opposition leaders have further called for the constitution of an independent committee headed by a retired Supreme Court judge and assisted by technical experts and other eminent citizens. According to their plea, the committee should conduct an independent audit within a fixed timeframe of deletions and modifications made to electoral rolls during the SIR exercise.
The proposed audit would also examine access to and alterations made in electoral roll databases, including ECINET and ERONET, the petition stated. Beyond the revision of electoral rolls, the petition seeks a broader review of the Election Commission’s policies and procedures concerning Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs). It has asked the proposed committee to examine the decisions, protocols, technical designs and architecture governing the use and deployment of EVMs, taking global best practices into account.
The petitioners have argued for an examination of these processes in the interest of ensuring free and fair elections. Their requests place both the revision of electoral rolls and the systems used in election administration under judicial scrutiny. With Owaisi’s plea now set to be considered alongside other pending matters, the Supreme Court is expected to examine the concerns raised by Opposition leaders over the conduct of the SIR exercise and the procedures followed in maintaining electoral rolls.
