Disenfranchisement allegation due to SIR exaggerated: ECI to Supreme Court on Bengal MP's Claim

New Delhi: Election Commission of India has told the Supreme Court that accusations of large-scale disenfranchisement of voters in West Bengal due to the ongoing special intensive revision of electoral rolls are "highly exaggerated".

In a counter affidavit, ECI said such exaggerated accusations are being amplified to serve "vested political interests." The counter has been filed in response to a plea by Trinamool MP Dola Sen challenging the legality of SIR orders. ECI has submitted that SIR is constitutionally mandated, well-established, and regularly conducted. It has argued that the exercise is essential for ensuring purity and integrity of electoral rolls, a constitutional requirement.

ECI argued 99.77% of the existing electors have been supplied with pre-filled enumeration forms and 70.14% of filled-in forms have been received from electors. ECI has argued that the aforementioned figures prove that the allegations of under-inclusiveness and mass disenfranchisement are exaggerated.


In a related development, SC issued notice on a plea raising concerns that migrants, who are eligible to become citizens under the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019, are facing the risk of removal from the voters' list amid the ongoing SIR in West Bengal.