After DMK, CPI-M moves SC against SIR of electoral roll in Tamil Nadu

New Delhi, Nov 10 (PTI) The Communist Party of India (Marxist) has moved the Supreme Court challenging the constitutional validity of the Election Commission’s directive for a Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Tamil Nadu, terming the exercise “arbitrary, illegal, and unconstitutional”.

A bench comprising Chief Justice B R Gavai and Justice K Vinod Chandram was also urged by a lawyer, appearing for the CPI(M), that the plea be heard on Tuesday along with a separate plea filed by the DMK against the SIR in the state.

“We will see,” the CJI said.

Last week, the DMK filed a petition challenging the SIR notification, which the top court has listed for hearing on November 11.

The CPI(M) petition, filed by P Shanmugam, secretary of the party's Tamil Nadu State Committee, has sought to quash the Election Commission’s order dated October 27, 2025, which mandated completion of the SIR within a month.

The petitioner alleged that the EC's move is “arbitrary, illegal, and unconstitutional”.

The plea contends that while the objective of ensuring purity and inclusiveness of electoral rolls is not disputed, the manner and timeline prescribed are “manifestly impractical, humanly impossible, and contrary to law under the Representation of the People Act, 1950 and the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960”.

According to the petition, the SIR notification directs enumeration between November 4 and December 4, 2025, covering over 6.18 crore voters in Tamil Nadu.

Each Booth Level Officer (BLO) has been tasked with visiting nearly 500 households per day, a target the petitioner says is “humanly impossible”, as a BLO can meaningfully visit only 40–50 houses daily, deeming the exercise “manifestly arbitrary”.

The petition further points out that the overall SIR schedule allows barely 102 days for enumeration, rationalization of polling stations, scrutiny of enumeration forms, publication of draft rolls, filing and disposal of claims and objections, and final publication.

Issued one day prior to commencement, this schedule leaves no effective time for training, enumeration, verification or meaningful participation by electors and political parties, particularly in large and rural constituencies, defeating the purpose of an “intensive” revision, it said.

Calling the exercise a “colourable use of power”, the CPI(M) argued that the decision to undertake a fresh, statewide verification of all voters was unjustified, as no evidence of large-scale irregularities or systemic flaws had been presented.

In the absence of any demonstrated necessity, the party said the move proved to be "unreasonable and arbitrary", violating the principles of proportionality and due process.

The CPI(M) has also expressed concern that the SIR could lead to “mass and unjustified disenfranchisement” of genuine voters, particularly among marginalised and migrant communities.

It has further accused the Election Commission of overstepping its constitutional limits by authorising officials to undertake citizenship verification and refer “suspected foreign nationals” under the Citizenship Act, 1955, calling it a “de facto NRC exercise” beyond the Commission’s mandate.

The plea has also alleged that the unilateral imposition of the SIR on Tamil Nadu violates the principle of cooperative federalism, reducing the state to “a mere implementing agency of a centrally determined exercise”.

The petition has sought a declaration that the impugned orders of June 24 and October 27, 2025, issued by the Election Commission of India, are ultra vires the Constitution and the Representation of the People Act, and prayed for their quashing. PTI MDB SJK SJK KVK KVK