The Supreme Court, on Friday, declined to extend the deadline for the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Keralam, saying that there
was no need for an extension as the process of correcting electoral records and seeking inclusion of voters remain open. A bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana, however, permitted the petitioners to submit details of individuals who could not file their enumeration forms within the prescribed deadline. The Election Commission has agreed to examine such representations and submit a report to the court. During the hearing, the counsel for the petitioners submitted that several people had been unable to complete the enumeration process due to a shortage of time and sought an extension of the deadline. Responding to the submission, the CJI said the petitioners could identify individuals who had been left out and bring their cases to the Election Commission's notice. "Find out wherever you feel there are persons who should still be given a chance or opportunity. Bring it to their notice by way of representation. We will tell them to examine it, and we will keep it pending," the CJI said. When counsel pointed out that the verification exercise was scheduled to conclude on Friday and could be extended, the CJI said there was no necessity to extend the deadline since the process was continuing. "There is no need to extend time because it is a continuous process," he observed. Representing the Election Commission, senior advocate D S Naidu said that the exercise had been completed and that affected individuals could still approach the authorities for corrections through the prescribed procedure. The bench subsequently recorded that the petitioners could furnish details of persons who had been unable to submit their enumeration forms within the stipulated period. The EC was directed to consider their representations and place a report before the court. The poll panel was given four weeks to respond to allegations of large-scale deletions. The top court has been hearing a batch of petitions challenging the SIR of electoral rolls being undertaken by the Election Commission in several states. With inputs from PTI
