The Supreme Court called the Kerala government’s request to extend the deadline for submitting forms for the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) “just and fair,” and advised the Election Commission to consider it. The Kerala government asked the court to extend the deadline because local body elections set for December 9 and 11, with counting on December 13.
Will ECI extend SIR form deadline
The Election Commission told the bench, led by Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi, that the original deadline of December 4 changed to December 11. However, the state argued that more time required for government employees involved in the local polls to complete their own forms.
“It seems to us that the request is just and fair. We therefore allow Kerala to submit a request for an extension of the deadline for the enumeration form by a week or so,” Chief Justice Kant said.
Deadline extended from 4 December to 11 December
Senior Advocate Rakesh Dwivedi, representing the Election Commission, said that the last date was December 4, but it extended to December 11. “You should extend it more so that anyone who missed the opportunity can still participate. Any officers in the state engaged in the elections would also want to enroll in the SIR,” Chief Justice Kant responded.
When informed that the State Election Commission had filed an affidavit stating that staff involved in the local elections were exempt from SIR duties, the Chief Justice commented, “It seems the government machinery does not have a problem with the SIR process and local elections happening at the same time; certain political parties have a problem.”
The Election Commission reported to the court that the state assigned 1.76 lakh dedicated staff for the State Election Commission, while 25,468 are assigned to the SIR process. “98.8% of SIR forms distributed, and 80% of the forms digitized upon receipt,” the poll body stated.
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