'SIR process must be just & fair': Supreme Court tells Election Commission

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday said that the manner of the conduct of the revision of electoral rolls must conform to the principles of natural justice and it should be just and fair.

Dealing with a batch of matters related to validity of special intensive revision in various states, including Bihar, a bench of Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi said, "No power or jurisdiction can be untrammelled, no matter how high one is. The manner of conduct of the revision of electoral rolls must conform with the principles of natural justice. It should be just and fair."

Arguing for the Election Commission, senior advocate Rakesh Dwivedi, said that the 2025 SIR is sustainable under Article 324 read with Section 21(3) of the Representation of the People Act, 1950.

"Clause (3) of Section 21 (Preparation and revision of electoral rolls), which allows the EC to have power and to hold a special revision at any time, for any constituency or part of a constituency in such manner as it may think fit," Dwivedi said.

He contended, the Representation of Peoples Act, 1950, allowed the EC to go beyond the limits of its own rules to revise electoral rolls.

The court, however, said, the manner of conduct of rolls revision must be just and fair.

In an affidavit, the EC stated that many instances of logical discrepancies found in the electoral roll of West Bengal defied science, as two electors were found with more than 200 children, seven with over 100 children, 10 with over 50 children, and another 10 with more than 40.

During the hearing, the court cited sub-section (3) of Section 21 of the 1950 Act, to ask the counsel, “Why should we not expect you (EC) to have a transparent procedure."

Dwivedi, however, maintained the EC can go beyond the limits of its own rules to revise electoral rolls "as long as the reasons and procedure are fair and just."