Vijay's TVK Party Approaches Supreme Court Against SIR In Tamil Nadu

Actor Vijay's Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam(TVK) party has approached the Supreme Court challenging the Special Intensive Revision(SIR) of the electoral rolls in Tamil Nadu.

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. 

"The process violates the right of continuity of electors on rolls by allowing deletion of names without notice or hearing, thus contravening Supreme Court precedents and statutory safeguards under Rule 21A of the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960."

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 absence of revision lists from prior exercises and insufficient enumeration forms, making the process arbitrary and hasty, it has been stated. 

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 which 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 she doubts the eligibility of a proposed elector;

IV. It has been set into motion in a hurried manner 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.