The Supreme Court on Monday refused to interfere with the Election Commission of India’s decision to retain 2002 as the base year for the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Sikkim, dismissing a PIL seeking 1993 as the reference year.
A bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana dismissed the petition filed by the Sikkimese Mulniwasi Surakacha Sangh, which argued that electoral data added in 2002 did not correspond with Sikkim’s demographic data and could lead to anomalies.
The court noted that voters included in the 2002 electoral roll had exercised their franchise in subsequent elections. It also said the ECI had uniformly adopted 2002 as the base year across states because the last SIR was conducted that year.
“The goal post cannot be shifted in the middle of the exercise,” the bench said, adding that it would not interfere with the ECI’s decision.
The court said the petitioner could approach the ECI for a reasonable exemption for Sikkim. Chief Justice Kant also observed that no individual had approached the court apart from the NGO and cautioned that allowing the organisation to seek judicial interference in the ECI’s decision would be a “dangerous proposition”.
Justice Bagchi noted that border states face challenges related to migration and demographic changes. The bench concluded that no grounds had been made out to interfere with the ECI’s decision and dismissed the petition.
