New Delhi: The Supreme Court has backed the Election Commission of India’s decision to carry out the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, saying the process is important to maintain free and fair elections in the country.A bench led by Chief Justice Surya Kant said the Election Commission was working within its constitutional and legal powers while conducting the voter list revision exercise.The court observed that updating and verifying electoral rolls is necessary to protect the transparency and credibility of the election system.Several petitions had challenged the SIR process, claiming that the Election Commission did not have authority under existing election laws and constitutional provisions to conduct such a large-scale verification drive.One of the petitions was filed by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), which argued that the exercise was similar to an NRC-style verification process linked to citizenship checks.However, the Election Commission defended the move and told the court that documents such as Aadhaar cards and voter ID cards alone cannot be considered final proof of citizenship.The first phase of the Special Intensive Revision was conducted in Bihar. During the process, lakhs of names were reportedly removed from the draft voter list after verification and scrutiny.As part of the exercise, individuals whose names were not found in older electoral rolls from 2002 or 2003 were asked to provide family or ancestral linkage records.The Supreme Court had earlier noted during hearings that adding or removing names from voter lists falls under the constitutional responsibility of the Election Commission.The verdict is being seen as an important decision regarding electoral reforms, voter verification and the Election Commission’s powers ahead of future elections in India.#SupremeCourt #ElectionCommission #ECI #VoterList #SIR #ElectoralRoll #IndiaNews #BreakingNews #BiharNews #ADR #FreeAndFairElections #IndianPolitics #LatestNews #Democracy #VoterVerification
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