Supreme Court Defers Hearing on Voter List Revision Petitions

The Supreme Court has reportedly deferred the hearing on petitions challenging the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls and certain decisions of the Election Commission of India (ECI). According to the supplied report, a bench headed by Chief Justice Surya Kant granted petitioner Rakesh Kumar Singh 10 days to file a rejoinder to the counter-affidavit submitted by the Election Commission. Senior advocate Vikas Singh, appearing for the petitioner, requested additional time to respond. The next hearing is reportedly expected on November 17. The petition alleges that Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar acted unilaterally and seeks the cancellation of the disputed SIR measures, along with his temporary removal from office. These allegations remain contested and have not been established by the court.

The Election Commission rejected the allegations and maintained that the SIR orders issued in June 2025, October 2025 and May 2026 were approved unanimously by the Commission. It explained that observations made by individual commissioners during file reviews do not constitute final decisions. The ECI also stated that Form 6 had not been legally amended and that the online application interface was separated into Form 6 and an SIR declaration for clarity. According to its submission, Booth Level Officers would collect documents from voters whose records could not be mapped, while hearings would be limited to exceptional cases. The Commission further maintained that electoral entries cannot be added or deleted without an Electoral Registration Officer’s authorisation and said an expert committee involving IIT and IISc specialists had been constituted to oversee security measures. The court has yet to deliver a final ruling on the challenges.