Petitioners submit 88% not issued notices in TN as objections phase ends on Jan 30, SC schedules urgent hearing on Jan 29

Ruling party leaders in Tamil Nadu vehemently argued that 88% of voters excluded from draft electoral rolls during the exercise of Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in the name of logical inconsistencies and mapping did not receive hearing notices, forcing the Supreme Court to schedule an emergency hearing on January 29 when the Election Commission of India is present to make the statement.

Appearing before a Bench chaired by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, senior advocate Kapil Sibal, representing the petitioners-leaders from Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), informed that the objection and allegations phase in Tamil Nadu ended on January 30.

“Only 18 lakh people have been notified. There is a gap of 88 per cent. These people have not been notified. The phase ends on January 30. If the hearing is postponed, the situation will turn into a fait accompli,” Mr. Sibal told the court.

He suggested that the court should extend the directions given in the January 19 judgment in the West Bengal SIR case to Tamil Nadu as well.

“The reasons for excluding people are the same – logical inconsistencies, mapping etc,” Mr. Sibal said. he said.

Senior advocate Dama Seshadhiri Naidu, appearing for the Election Commission of India (ECI), sought postponement of the case. He suggested it be done the next day (January 30) or February 2.

Mr. Sibal objected, saying that there was no point in hearing the case on both dates as the deadline for filing objections and claims was January 30.

Chief Justice Kant fixed the hearing of the Tamil Nadu case for January 29 and asked Mr. Naidu to appear online if necessary.

Mr. Sibal stated that there were other issues with the West Bengal SIR as well. He said the EC cannot hear all the people excluded from draft lists in the state.

“They cannot complete this exercise. They will have to hear nine lakh people every day to complete this exercise. They have given hearings to only one lakh people so far,” Mr. Sibal said on behalf of the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) leaders from West Bengal.

In West Bengal, around 1.40 crore people have been notified for document verification. The recipients of these notifications were broadly divided into three sections: mapped (category of voters linked to the 2002 SIR), unmapped (category of voters unlinked to the 2002 SIR) and the third category containing ‘logical inconsistencies’ corresponding to approximately 1.36 crore voters.

These ‘logical inconsistencies’ mentioned included incompatibility of father’s name, incompatibility of ages of parents, ages of parents being more than 50, ages of grandparents being less than 40, and having more than six children.

Mr. Sibal said the ‘logical inconsistencies’ cited by the EC in Tamil Nadu were almost the same as those in West Bengal.

Chief Justice Kant, who scheduled the Tamil Nadu SIR case on January 29, had orally argued that, as in West Bengal, the EC could display names of persons in logical inconsistencies in gram panchayat bhawans, public places in talukas and block offices of talukas (Sub-Divisions) as well as ward offices in cities in urban areas.

Similarly, the Chief Justice, referring to the January 19 order in West Bengal, said that in Tamil Nadu, the likely affected persons may be allowed to submit their documents/objections through their authorized representatives. Submission of these documents/objections to panchayat bhawans or block offices may also be allowed.

The Supreme Court had on January 19 directed the EC to give an additional 10 days to all persons who have not yet submitted their allegations, documents or objections. Chief Justice Kant said the same extension could be granted in the Tamil Nadu case as well.