The Supreme Court on Tuesday granted the petitioner 10 days to respond to the affidavit filed by the Election Commission in the Supreme Court regarding the issue of Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the voters’ list.
Similarly, it also issued notice to the Election Commission, directing it to respond to a fresh petition filed challenging the Election Commission’s changes to Form 6 during the SIR exercise in Bihar without the Supreme Court’s approval.
An English newspaper reported that there were sharp differences of opinion between Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi in the SIR matter. The newspaper said that Gyanesh Kumar had independently taken several important decisions related to SIR.
In particular, under the SIR procedure, Form 6 was amended last July so that new voters applying online to be included in the electoral roll would submit their parents’ SIR details. However, reports recently emerged that Election Commissioners Vivek Joshi and Sukhbir Singh Sandhu had recorded their objection, saying, “This change, made merely on the basis of an instruction without amending the 1960 voter registration rules, is illegal and unauthorized.” This has become a major controversy.
In this matter, in the petition filed by Rakeshkumar Singh in the Supreme Court, it was requested that, “Under the law, the Chief Election Commissioner and the two Election Commissioners in the Election Commission are required to take decisions by consensus, but the Chief Election Commissioner has been making decisions unilaterally. An order should be issued directing the Chief Election Commissioner to explain on what authority he is acting in this manner.”
For this, the Election Commission filed a 248-page affidavit in the Supreme Court on Monday. In it, it said, “The Chief Election Commissioner did not take decisions related to SIR unilaterally. All decisions regarding it were taken in accordance with the law and unanimously.
Moreover, no changes have been made to Form 6 by the Election Commission. Only the Central Government has the authority to do so. Because of the way the affidavit section was displayed in the online application, it may appear as though changes were made to Form 6. Since the 21st, it has been split into two parts: Form 6 and the SIR affidavit. Therefore, this petition, filed on the basis of the news report published in the newspaper, is not fit for hearing,” it noted.
New petition: Meanwhile, a fresh petition filed on behalf of Rajya Sabha MP Dola Sen challenging the Election Commission’s changes to Form 6 during the SIR exercise in Bihar without the Supreme Court’s approval came up for hearing on Tuesday before a bench comprising Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justices Jayamalya Bagchi and V. Mohana.
At that time, senior advocate and MP Menaka Guruswamy, appearing for the petitioner, said, “The Election Commission issued false information stating that the Supreme Court had approved the changes made to Form 6.”
After hearing this, the Chief Justice noted that all issues would be examined and ordered notices to be issued to the Election Commission and others to respond to the new petition.
He also ordered that notice be issued to the petitioner, Rakesh Kumar Singh, to respond within 10 days to the affidavit filed by the Election Commission.
It is noteworthy that the Supreme Court had earlier, on the 12th, firmly rejected the Election Commission’s claim that the changes made in Form 6 had been approved by the Supreme Court.
