BREAKING| Supreme Court To Pronounce Judgment Tomorrow On Legality Of SIR Carried Out By Election Commission Of India
Gursimran Kaur Bakshi
26 May 2026 10:04 PM IST
The Supreme Court will pronounce judgment tomorrow on a batch of petitions challenging the legality of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls done by the Election Commission of India.
A bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi will pronounce the judgment. The Court is examining whether the ECI has the powers under Article 326 of the Constitution, the Representation of the People Act, 1950 and the Rules made thereunder to carry out the SIR in the present form.
It may be noted that the Court did not interdict the SIR process, and it has been completed in Bihar, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and West Bengal. It is ongoing in several other states such as Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Rajasthan etc. While allowing the process to go on, the Court said that it will determine the legal question whether the ECI has the power to carry out the exercise. Judgment was reserved on January 29 this year.
Most of the petitions were filed in June last year, following the ECI's decision to conduct SIR in Bihar. The Association of Democratic Reforms, political activist Yogendra Yadav, Mahua Moitra (TMC MP), Manoj Jha (RJD MP), KC Venugopal(Congress MP), Supriya Sule (NCP SP), etc are some of the petitioners.
During the hearing last year, the Supreme Court directed ECI to accept Aadhaar card as a "12th document" which could be produced as proof of identity for the purpose of inclusion in the revised voters list of Bihar. The Court clarified that Aadhaar shall not be a proof of citizenship and that ECI officials would be entitled to verify the authenticity and genuineness of Aadhaar cards produced by voters.
Case Title: ASSOCIATION FOR DEMOCRATIC REFORMS AND ORS. Versus ELECTION COMMISSION OF INDIA, W.P.(C) No. 640/2025 (and connected cases)
