Supreme Court refuses to seek reply from Election Commission on SIR in Bihar (file photo)
PTI, New Delhi. The Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to seek a reply from the Election Commission on an NGO's petition. The NGO had sought direction to the Election Commission to respond to a media report alleging that lakhs of pre-filled notices for deletion of names of voters during Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in Bihar were issued at the central level instead of local authorities.
A bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi said this would set a wrong precedent and asked the NGO - Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) to file an affidavit keeping in mind the facts before seeking the Election Commission's response.
Senior advocate Rakesh Dwivedi, representing the Election Commission in this case, objected to the reliance placed by the NGO on the newspaper report and refuted the allegations made in it.
He said that the Election Commission cannot be called to court to suddenly react to media reports at a time when important hearings have already taken place on the issue.
The bench said that unless the issue is formally brought on record through an affidavit, it cannot be influenced by media reports.
Senior advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing in the court on behalf of the NGO challenging the constitutional validity of the Election Commission's notice issued on June 24 for SIR in Bihar, said that the media report has made some very "disturbing" and "serious" allegations that norms were not followed during the SIR in Bihar.
He said lakhs of pre-filled notices were sent directly to voters by the Election Commission requesting deletion of names, while only the local electoral registration officer has the power to issue such notices under the Representation of the People Act.