Tamil Nadu SIR| Teachers Appointed As BLOs Shouldn't Face Coercive Action For Not Meeting Targets : TVK Party Tells Supreme Court

The bench of CJI Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi was hearing the matter. 

During the hearing, Sr Advocate Gopal Sankarnarayanan, appearing for the TVK Party, highlighted the mental health effects on the school teachers who are allegedly compelled to complete targets as Booth Level Officers (BLOs). He explained : 

"Because the anganwadi workers and teachers who are recruited as the BLOs, there is a lot of pressure on them to meet certain targets, and if they don't meet the target, they receive notices which say S.32 of the RP Act will be brought into force, which means imprisonment for 3 months. They lose their jobs, they go to jails, etc."

Notably, S.32 of the RP Act deals with breach of official duty in connection with the preparation of electoral rolls. Sankaranarayanan added that there are reports of 21 suicides of BLOs across the country due to the pressure created by SIR work.

He also informed the bench that the date for compliance with the enumeration form for the SIR has been extended to the 11th December.

The bench said that it will hear the matter on 4th December 

Why Has TVK Challenged Tamil Nadu's SIR?

As per the petition, the SIR constitutes a gross violation of constitutional protections under Articles 14, 19, 21, 325, and 326, and is contrary to statutory provisions under Sections 21 and 23 of the Representation of the People Act, 1950 (ROPA).

The petition states that the SIR amounts to a "de novo" preparation of electoral rolls without any recorded reasons or justification, violating the statutory requirement under ROPA.

TVK's petition also raises issues regarding the procedural difficulties that may arise in the SIR electoral exercise.

It says that the timing of SIR coincides with potential floods, posing logistical difficulties and administrative burden as government officials and Booth Level Officers(BLOs) may be diverted to flood relief work.

BLOs lack essential preparation and documentation, including the absence of revision lists from prior exercises and insufficient enumeration forms, making the process arbitrary and hasty, it has been stated.

The following grounds have been raised by TVK as violating Article 14:

I. It restricts the list of eligible documents to 13 arbitrary secondary documents, and excludes base documents (ECIs Photo Identity Card, Ration Card or the MGNREGA Job Card) basis that these secondary documents are issued, and which are more likely to be readily available with voters in Tamil Nadu;

II. Persons belonging to socially and economically weaker sections of society will be disproportionately impacted by the requirement to provide documentary evidence of their/their parents' place of birth or date of birth;

III. It vests extra-jurisdictional and unbridled power with the Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) to question the citizenship of electors based on the availability of 13 arbitrarily chosen documents or even otherwise, if they doubt the eligibility of a proposed elector;

IV. It has been set into motion recklessly, discriminating against those who had no opportunity to inform themselves about the process and/or collate documents required for the process. Notably, it was announced without any prior consultation with or notice to the two most crucial stakeholders in any electoral process: the voters and the political parties; and

V. It envisages automatic deletion of names from the electoral rolls upon a mere non-submission of the enumeration form, in grave violation of the statutory scheme under the Representation of the People Act, 1950, the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960 and the right of continuity.

Apart from TVK, Tamil Nadu SIR is challenged by the political party DMK (Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam), Communist Party of India (Marxist) State MLA K Selvaperunthagai, Thol Thirumavalavan MP.

According to DMK's petition, a Special Summary Revision (SSR) had already been conducted in Tamil Nadu between October 2024 and January 6, 2025, during which the electoral roll was updated to reflect changes such as migration, deaths and deletion of ineligible voters. The revised roll was published on January 6, 2025, and has been continuously updated since then. Despite this, ECI has notified a fresh SIR, introducing new guidelines that impose citizenship verification requirements, especially for those whose names were not on the 2003 electoral roll.

In contrast, the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) has filed an application supporting SIR in Tamil Nadu, calling it a legitimate and necessary exercise to uphold the sanctity of elections and prevent voter fraud.

Apart from Tamil Nadu, petitions have also been filed challenging the SIR exercise in Kerala, West Bengal and Puducherry. A bench of Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi is set to hear it on November 26.

TVK's petition has been filed through Advocates Dixita Gohil, Pranjal Agarwal, Yash S Vijay (AOR), and Rupali Samuel.