Deemed ineligible: On the Supreme Court and SIR
The Supreme Court of India questioned the Election Commission's process of deleting voters from electoral rolls for failing to return enumeration forms. The Court expressed concern that the current system unfairly shifts the burden of enrollment onto citizens and risks disenfranchising millions.
Why it matters
It addresses fundamental democratic concerns regarding voter access and the administrative integrity of electoral rolls in a major democracy.
At Wednesday’s hearing of a petition on the Delhi SIR in the Supreme Court, Justice Joymalya Bagchi asked questions that cut to the heart of the Election Commission of India (ECI)’s SIR of electoral rolls. If an existing voter was “lax, inert or did not respond” to enumeration forms, was that a ground for the ECI to “forfeit his or her right to vote forever”? The Bench headed by the Chief Justice of India Surya Kant said that the ECI was in “error” to force such voters, struck off for not returning enumeration forms, to reapply on Form 6 as if they were new voters. It asked why voters who had shifted residences could not just disclose details and why deleted voters could not fill enumeration forms belatedly.
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