New Delhi, May 27 (IANS) The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Wednesday said that the Supreme Court’s ruling on the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls “exposed” that Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition (LoP) Rahul Gandhi and Congress “stood” with the infiltrations.

The Supreme Court upheld the Election Commission of India’s decision to undertake a SIR of electoral rolls, holding that the revision exercise was within the constitutional and statutory powers of the poll body and was aimed at preserving the integrity of the electoral process.

Reacting to this, BJP national spokesperson Pradeep Bhandhari said, “Rahul Gandhi & Congress party stands exposed! Supreme Court declare SIR Process Legal & Constitutional!”

“It’s clear Rahul Gandhi & Congress opposed all through because they stood with illegal infiltrators not with Indian voters. This was in true sense an ‘Anti National Act’! Will Rahul Gandhi apologise today for defaming Indian Democracy!” he added.

A Bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi ruled that the impugned SIR exercise did not violate the provisions of the Representation of the People Act (RPA), 1950 or the rules framed thereunder, and held that the ECI was empowered to undertake such a revision under Article 324 of the Constitution read with Section 21(3) of the RPA Act.

Holding that the ECI had not acted in excess of its powers, the Supreme Court observed that the SIR exercise “breathes life into the constitutional mandate under Article 324 within the precise statutory contours provided by Section 21(3)” of the Representation of the People Act, 1950.

It further held that the objective of the SIR exercise bore a direct nexus to the constitutional goal of free and fair elections. “Free and fair elections do not rest merely upon the mechanics of polling. They fundamentally depend upon the integrity, accuracy and credibility of the electoral rolls, which form the foundation of the democratic process,” the CJI Kant-led Bench said.

Referring to the reasons recorded by the ECI for initiating the SIR exercise, the apex court found that more than four decades had passed since the last intensive revision and that large-scale additions and deletions, rapid urbanisation and migration had created the possibility of duplication and inaccuracies in the electoral rolls.

The judgment came on a batch of petitions challenging the SIR exercise initiated by the ECI, beginning with Bihar and subsequently extended to several states and Union Territories(UTs), including West Bengal, Kerala and Tamil Nadu.

–IANS

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