Supreme Court bans changes in Tamil Nadu, Bengal voter list and seeks response from Election Commission

The Supreme Court on Tuesday sought separate responses from the Election Commission (EC) on petitions filed by DMK, CPI(M), West Bengal unit of Congress and Trinamool Congress leaders challenging the Special Intensive Review (SIR) exercise in Tamil Nadu and West Bengal respectively.

A bench of Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi asked the Election Commission to respond to the fresh petitions in two weeks.

The top court also asked the Madras and Calcutta high courts to stay any proceedings on the petitions challenging the SIR of the voter lists in Tamil Nadu and West Bengal.

It also allowed listing of an intervention application filed by the AIADMK supporting the practice in Tamil Nadu.

On October 27, the EC announced the conduct of the second phase of the SIR exercise in 12 states and union territories between November and February next year.

The states and union territories are Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Lakshadweep, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Gujarat, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Puducherry, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal.

Elections are to be held in Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, Kerala and West Bengal in 2026.

The Election Commission said the revision of voter lists for Assam, where elections are scheduled in 2026, will be announced separately.

The second phase of the SIR exercise began on 4 November and will continue till 4 December. The Election Commission will release the draft voter list on December 9 and the final voter list will be published on February 7.