The Supreme Court on Tuesday granted petitioners 10 days to file a rejoinder to the Election Commission's affidavit defending the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, asserting that the exercise was legally authorised and its orders were unanimously approved by all three members of the poll panel.
A bench comprising Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana also issued notices to the EC and others on a fresh plea by Rajya Sabha MP Dola Sen, who alleged that changes were made to Form 6 during the Bihar SIR without the Supreme Court's approval.
Senior advocate Maneka Guruswamy, appearing for Sen, told the bench that the EC had wrongly claimed the changes to Form 6 were approved by the top court.
The CJI said all issues would be examined and directed senior advocate Vikas Singh, appearing for the first petitioner, Rakesh Kumar Singh, to file a rejoinder to the EC's response submitted late Monday evening.
In its 248-page affidavit, filed through Deputy Election Commissioner Bhanu Prakash Yeturu, the EC rejected allegations that Form 6, used for voter registration, had been amended, maintaining that no changes were made to the statutory form.
"The attempt to make aspersions against the Election Commission is unfortunate," the affidavit said, adding that its filing had been unanimously approved by all three election commissioners.
The petitions follow a September 25 report by The Indian Express that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had recorded at least 14 objections over 10 months to SIR-related decisions and orders allegedly issued without their knowledge or recommendation.
The report triggered protests by opposition parties and the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), which have demanded the removal of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.
(With inputs from PTI)