The Supreme Court has issued a notice regarding the machine-generated notices sent to voters in Delhi during the special intensive revision of electoral rolls and suggested clarification on logical discrepancies.
On Tuesday, the Supreme Court raised concerns about the manner in which the special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls was being carried out in Delhi. A bench headed by Chief Justice Surya Kant took note of concerns regarding notices issued to voters in the 'doubtful' list, as they did not provide sufficient reasons or details.
The petitioners stated that more than 33 lakh voters in Delhi had been sent notices on 'flimsy reasons'. During the hearing, Justice Joymalya Bagchi verbally observed that the notices appeared to have been issued 'almost mechanically', indicating they may be machine-generated. The bench suggested that the poll panel publish answers to frequently asked questions about the voter list revision exercise in newspapers.
The court also pointed out a need for booth-level officers to be sensitised so that they can assist voters who have been served notices, and took note of the Election Commission's submission that there was time to correct any lapses in the process as no polls were scheduled in Delhi in the near future.
The court stated that logical discrepancies refer to inconsistencies or a mismatch in the name of the voters’ parents, a low age gap with parents and the number of children of the parents being more than six. The bench will hear the matter after two weeks.
Delhi is among the 19 states and Union Territories where the voter roll revision is being carried out in the third phase of SIR. In 2025, the first phase of the exercise was conducted in Bihar, followed by extension to 12 states and Union Territories in the second phase in late 2025 and the first half of 2026.
Since the exercise began, concerns have been raised that it could eliminate genuine voters from the rolls and even shape electoral outcomes.
Source:
Scroll.in
