SC Seeks EC's Response on Pleas of DMK, TMC Challenging SIR Exercise in TN, Bengal

PTI, NEW DELHI, NOV 11, 2025 : The Supreme Court on Tuesday sought separate responses from the Election Commission (EC) on pleas filed by DMK, CPI(M), West Bengal Congress, and Trinamool Congress leaders challenging the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls in Tamil Nadu and West Bengal, respectively. A bench of Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi asked the poll panel to respond to the fresh petitions within two weeks. The apex court also asked the Madras and Calcutta High Courts to keep in abeyance any proceedings on petitions challenging the SIR exercise in Tamil Nadu and West Bengal.

It also allowed the listing of an intervention application filed by the AIADMK in support of the SIR in Tamil Nadu. During a brief hearing, senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing in the court for the ruling DMK in Tamil Nadu, said the exercise is being done hurriedly, without following the due process, and that different sets of documents are being sought from voters.

The bench remarked, "It appears that the case being projected before us is that for the first time, electoral rolls are being prepared. We also know the ground realities. There is a Constitutional authority which is doing the exercise, and it is mandated to do it. Earlier, it has been done."

Justice Kant said the problem is that everybody wants "status quo". Sibal stated that the petitioners want the EC to do its work, but not in this fashion or hurriedly. The bench further clarified that political parties should not be apprehensive of the exercise and that the EC will provide all necessary details related to it.

"If we are satisfied that there is something wrong, we will annul the entire exercise," the court stated.

On the argument that different modalities are being adopted in Tamil Nadu compared to what was followed in Bihar during the SIR exercise, the bench commented that it meant the EC had rectified its mistakes. Senior advocate Rakesh Dwivedi, appearing for the EC, sought to file replies to the fresh petitions. Senior advocate Kalyan Banerjee, representing Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Dola Sen, stated they too had filed a petition challenging the SIR in West Bengal.

Advocate Prashant Bhushan, representing the NGO Association for Democratic Reforms, questioned various "procedural irregularities" on the EC's part, such as issuing a machine-readable voter list in Bihar.

The bench stated that notices are being issued to the EC on all the fresh petitions and that the court will consider the pleas after the poll panel’s response.