SC to hear Maharashtra SIR plea on Oct 26; refuses to issue notice

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday agreed to hear on October 26 a plea alleging large-scale discrepancies in Maharashtra's electoral rolls during special intensive revision of electoral rolls, with Chief Justice of India Surya Kant saying the allegations must be examined "state-wise" and "cannot be generalised".

A bench of CJI Kant and justice Joymalya Bagchi was hearing the matter when senior advocate Arvind Datar, appearing for the petitioner, sought that it be taken up alongside other SIR-related matters before the court.

"This cannot be generalised. We have to look at it state-wise. We have to concentrate on Maharashtra. Then we have to again move to the Delhi issues," CJI Kant remarked.


Datar submitted that out of Maharashtra's 97.9 million voters, around 12 million had been flagged for logical discrepancies during the revision exercise. He also claimed that 40.6% of voters had been left out of the electoral rolls in Pune and some other areas.

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Seeking an early intervention, the senior advocate urged the court to issue notice to authorities on Thursday itself so that information on the alleged discrepancies could be placed before it by the next hearing.

"If notice is issued today, by October 26 we can get some feedback on logical discrepancies. We don't even know what a logical discrepancy is. I leave it to the court. Only some FAQ there," he said.

The bench, however, declined to issue notice immediately, with CJI Kant saying: "Not today".

The plea raises concerns over the scale of discrepancies flagged during the SIR exercise and their implications for the inclusion of eligible voters in the electoral rolls.

The revision exercise involves mapping existing voter records against earlier electoral rolls and identifying cases requiring further verification. Logical discrepancies may include differences in names, surnames, ages and other particulars.

The allegations concerning Maharashtra come amid wider legal challenges to the SIR exercise, including petitions raising concerns over voter exclusions and the procedures for restoring names missing from draft electoral rolls. The court is scheduled to take up the Maharashtra matter on October 26.