Supreme Court Grants Extension for Electoral Roll Revision in Kerala and Uttar Pradesh

Supreme Court's Decision on Electoral Roll Revision

New Delhi: On Thursday, the Supreme Court permitted petitioners to request additional time for the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Kerala and Uttar Pradesh. The Election Commission of India (ECI) is expected to address these requests by December 31.

A bench led by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi issued this directive while reviewing multiple petitions that challenge the ongoing SIR process in various states and seek an extension for completing the enumeration.

The CJI instructed the ECI to respond to the representations by the end of December and report back to the Supreme Court.

During the proceedings, senior advocate Kapil Sibal, representing the petitioners, claimed that there has been a significant deletion of voters' names in Kerala during the SIR process.

Sibal stated, "Twenty-five lakh names have been removed. If the husband's name is missing, the wife's name is retained. When authorities notice this, they also remove the wife's name," emphasizing that the enumeration phase in the state concludes on December 18.

Senior advocate Siddharth Luthra raised concerns about the necessity of conducting the intensive revision in Uttar Pradesh, given that Assembly elections are not scheduled until 2027.

The bench remarked, "Let the ECI respond within three weeks," and noted that senior advocate Rakesh Dwivedi, representing the ECI, would begin his submissions on January 6, 2026.

The Supreme Court declined to hear a separate petition that expressed worries about confidential data being shared with volunteers during the enumeration.

The petition highlighted data security issues, arguing that the involvement of volunteers has led to the sharing of citizens' personal information with private individuals.

Bihar was the first state to initiate the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) on June 24, 2025. Currently, twelve other states and Union Territories, including Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Goa, the Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Lakshadweep, and Puducherry, are undergoing this rigorous process.