Newz Desk, Durgapur: The Supreme Court on Tuesday sought a response from the Election Commission of India (ECI) on a petition contesting the poll body’s decision to conduct only a Special Revision of electoral rolls in Assam instead of a Special Intensive Revision (SIR) ahead of the 2026 Assembly elections.
A Bench comprising Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi issued notice to the ECI and listed the matter for further hearing next week.
The petition, moved by senior advocate and former Gauhati High Court Bar Association president Mrinal Kumar Choudhury, alleges that Assam has been “unfairly excluded” from the nationwide commitment to carry out an SIR — a more comprehensive and document-based verification of voters.
Appearing for the petitioner, senior advocate Vijay Hansaria criticised the ECI’s decision as “arbitrary and discriminatory”, arguing that the Special Revision process requires no documentation of citizenship, age or residence, unlike the SIR mechanism.
Hansaria also pointed to the Supreme Court’s past observations, including in the Constitution Bench judgment on Section 6A of the Citizenship Act, which acknowledged long-standing demographic shifts in Assam due to migration. He urged the court to immediately halt the ongoing revision exercise in the State.
However, the Bench refrained from issuing an interim stay, noting that the ECI might have adopted a different strategy for Assam owing to “special legal frameworks”, including the presence of foreigners’ tribunals.
“They might have done it for that reason. Might be,” the CJI remarked, stressing the need to hear the Election Commission before passing any directions.
The case will be taken up again next Tuesday.
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