NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Thursday directed the Election Commission of India (ECI) to ensure transparency in the verification of the ‘logical discrepancies’ list published during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Tamil Nadu and display the names of the persons figuring on the list with reasons at public places in every ward.
A bench, comprising Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi, passed the order after hearing an application filed by DMK secretary RS Bharathi, on behalf of the state’s ruling party.
The apex court also ordered the Tamil Nadu government to provide adequate manpower to the ECI and the State Election Commission to properly handle documents or objections and hear the persons likely to be affected.
ECI serves notices to 1.16 crore citing logical discrepancies
“The collector has to follow the instructions issued by the ECI for deploying adequate staff for smooth functioning of the SIR process,” the court said. It directed that all district SPs should ensure that there are no law and order problems.
The bench clarified that it expected the ECI to follow the same procedure in other states as well. The court noted that approximately 1.16 crore people have been served with notices, citing logical discrepancies. It allowed the affected persons to submit their objections via their BLA, to raise complaints.