New Delhi
The Supreme Court on Tuesday issued notice to the Election Commission of India (ECI) on a writ petition challenging the poll panel’s decision to conduct only a Special Revision of the electoral rolls in Assam, instead of undertaking a more rigorous Special Intensive Revision (SIR) ahead of the 2026 Assembly elections.
A bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi sought the ECI’s response and posted the matter for further hearing next Tuesday.
The petition, filed by senior advocate and former Gauhati High Court Bar Association President Mrinal Kumar Choudhury, argued that Assam has been singled out for a diluted revision exercise, even though the ECI had earlier informed the apex court that SIR would be conducted pan-India.
Appearing for the petitioner, senior advocate Vijay Hansaria termed the ECI’s approach arbitrary and discriminatory.
Assam has been singled out. Nothing is required in Assam. No document required, Hansaria submitted, referring to the fact that under the Special Revision process, electors are not required to furnish any proof of citizenship, age or residence, unlike in an SIR where electors must submit supporting documents along with their enumeration forms.
The senior counsel relied on the Supreme Court’s observations in multiple judgments, including the Constitution Bench verdict in In Re: Section 6A of the Citizenship Act, which recognised large-scale demographic changes in Assam due to infiltration.
He pressed for an immediate stay on the ongoing revision process in Assam. However, the CJI-led bench remarked that the ECI might have adopted a different approach for Assam because of the special laws applicable in the state, the constitution of foreigners’ tribunals, etc.
They might have done it so. Might be, said the apex court, declining to pass interim orders without hearing the ECI.
