A Booth Level Officer (BLO) interacts with a voter as he checks and collects filled enumeration forms for the special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, in Thiruvananthapuram.
Credit: PTI Photo
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday told the Election Commission to make public the names of people excluded from the draft electoral rolls published after the special intensive revision process in Kerala in order to allow the aggrieved voters to raise objections.
A bench of Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi also suggested the poll panel to consider extending the deadline, preferably by two weeks, for filing objections against the deletion of names.
The court was hearing a batch of petitions challenging the special intensive revision (SIR) process undertaken in Kerala.
The petitioners included the Kerala government, senior political leaders such as P K Kunhalikutty of IUML, M V Govindan Master of CPI-M, and Sunny Joseph, alongside the CPI State Council.
The pleas contended that the SIR process, as currently executed, risked disenfranchising a massive segment of the population due to technical errors and a lack of a robust redressal mechanism.
The counsel for the petitioners submitted that according to the draft electoral rolls released after the revision, nearly 24 lakh names had been deleted.
It was argued that while voters are required to file objections against deletion, the list of excluded persons has not been made accessible, effectively denying them a meaningful opportunity to contest the removal of their names.
"They have to list objections, but the list of those persons deleted is not available. Now people have to go back and file objections stating why have you deleted me...that opportunity is missing for us," one of the lawyers said.
The petitioners further pointed out that in the draft rolls, some voters have been erroneously shown as deceased, while others have been marked as residing outside the state.
The lack of transparency has caused serious difficulties for voters, particularly in rural areas, they said.
The poll panel had earlier extended the original deadline for submission of enumeration forms from December 4 to December 11.
Subsequently, upon the court's observations, the deadline was further extended to December 18.
Upon hearing the counsel, the bench said the names of persons excluded from the draft electoral rolls, if not already displayed, must be exhibited at gram panchayat offices or any other public office located in villages.
The court also directed that such lists be uploaded on the official website to ensure wider accessibility.
"Meanwhile, having regard to the difficulty being experienced by the people at large, the EC may consider the desirability of extending the date," the court said.