The Supreme Court has sought answers from the Election Commission over voter difficulties during Delhi’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR). The court questioned notices issued without clear reasons under the ‘logical discrepancy’ category. Additionally, the bench said the large number of notices appeared like they came through a machine process.
The court heard a petition filed by RTI activist Anjali Bhardwaj. During the hearing, the bench asked the Election Commission to clearly explain the meaning of ‘logical discrepancy’. Furthermore, the Chief Justice Surya Kant-led bench asked about the number of Booth Level Officers (BLOs) handling nearly 33 lakh notices. The court gave two weeks for the Election Commission’s response.
Petitioner Raises Questions Over 33 Lakh Notices
Advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for the petitioner, said more than 33 lakh voters received notices for unclear or minor reasons. He gave an example where a notice mentioned less than a 15-year age gap between voters and their parents.
However, Bhushan questioned how voters could answer such objections. He said the 12 documents requested by the commission do not include parents’ age details.
Meanwhile, senior advocate D S Naidu represented the Election Commission. He said nearly 14,000 BLOs and 1,200 EROs are continuously working on the process.
According to Naidu, voters can submit responses until 29 October. He also said authorities may consider extending the deadline if required. Moreover, he assured the court that “not even one voter will be removed without proper reason.”
Court Suggests Steps To Improve Voter Confidence
During the hearing, the Chief Justice suggested measures to increase voter trust. He said authorities could prepare standard replies for different types of objections.
Therefore, voters could understand which information would address specific concerns. Justice Bagchi also suggested making BLOs available at ward offices.
This would allow people to directly seek assistance. Meanwhile, the Election Commission informed the court about ongoing help camps. It also said WhatsApp groups were created for voter support.
Delhi SIR Draft List Shows Large Changes
Under Delhi’s SIR process, authorities released the draft voter list on 31 August. The list contained 97 lakh 53 thousand 577 voters.
Before SIR, Delhi’s voter list had around 1.45 crore names. However, around 47.56 lakh names did not appear in the draft list.
These names belonged to categories such as absent, shifted, deceased and duplicate voters. Additionally, around 33 lakh voters appeared under ‘unmapped’ or ‘logical discrepancy’ categories.
Around 13.80 lakh voters could not be mapped with the 2002 old voter list. Meanwhile, nearly 19.33 lakh voters remained under the ‘logical discrepancy’ category.
