SC tells ECI to consider Kerala plea for extending SIR deadline
The Supreme Court allows Kerala to seek an extension for submitting enumeration forms amid local elections, citing no disruption to the electoral process.
New Delhi The Supreme Court on Tuesday allowed the Kerala government to approach the Election Commission of India (ECI) for seeking an extension of the deadline for submission of enumeration forms under the ongoing special intensive revision (SIR) exercise in view of the ongoing local body elections.
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.
Petitions have been filed in the Supreme Court challenging the SIR exercise that has concluded in Bihar. Subsequently, the SIR process in Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Kerala, and Puducherry has also been challenged in court through separate petitions filed by elected representatives, political party leaders and non profit organisations among others..
The state government led by advocate CK Sasi and other petitioners led by senior advocate Ranjit Kumar pointed out that the last date for collection of enumeration forms is December 11 and due to simultaneous conduct of SIR and local body polls, citizens in the state are facing genuine difficulty in providing details required in the SIR process.
ECI represented by senior advocates Rakesh Dwivedi and Maninder Singh pointed out that the enumeration exercise is almost complete with 98% forms distributed and about 88% being digitised.
The court said, “If 88% of enumeration work is digitised and 98% of forms have been distributed, who is complaining?” However, to resolve the situation, the court asked ECI to consider the “just and fair” request of petitioners to extend the date for collection of forms .
The order said, “We allow the Kerala government to submit a representation to ECI giving reasons by which the last date for submission of forms can be extended by a week or so.” The court gave time till Wednesday evening for filing such a representation and asked ECI to consider the same “objectively and sympathetically” within the next two days. The court kept the matter pending.
Some of the petitioners also requested the court to consider the plight faced by non resident Indians (NRI) who constitute a significant proportion of the state’s voting population. Advocate Harris Beeran said that several NRIs, who are voters in Kerala, face the threat of being struck off the rolls as the present SIR allows them to submit the enumeration forms online but requires them to be present at home when the booth level officer (BLO) visits home for verification.
The bench said, “This argument is premature. It is only the distribution of forms that is taking place.” Stating that somebody may always be there at home, the court remarked, “We are very sure that whenever ECI undertakes this exercise, they will take KSEC into confidence who will be fully aware of this situation. Let the right time come.”
The court last week sought response of ECI and KSEC on the state’s plea which claimed that holding of SIR with local body polls would create an “administrative impasse”.
Responding to this , ECI said, “The assertion that the state administrative machinery will come to a standstill is imaginary and the only motive is to disrupt the SIR process, which is at the stage of completion of enumeration phase.”
The response further stated that about 176,000 personnel have been employed for local body poll duty who will not be required for SIR work. “Hence, there is no possibility of disruption of LSGI elections due to SIR,” the poll panel said, reiterating that District Collectors have been authorized to engage only those personnel who are not assigned to local body election duties, for the purposes of SIR.
The state in its petition claimed, “About 176,000 personnel are required for LSGI election purposes, apart from 68,000 security personnel. Besides, the conduct of SIR requires the services of additional personnel numbering 25,668. This puts a severe strain on the state administration bringing routine administrative work to a standstill.”
The petition by Kerala government reserved its right to later question the validity of the SIR being “not conducive to the democratic polity of the country” as its present plea was only limited to deferring SIR.
“The plea of logistical or administrative inconvenience is therefore wholly misconceived and unsustainable, as both processes are structured to proceed in a staggered and mutually exclusive manner, enabling their smooth and efficient conduct without prejudice to either,” ECI said.
A separate affidavit filed by KSEC told the court, “There is no report of paucity of polling staff by the District Election Officers. There is adequate administrative machinery at the command of the SEC.”
