Will not allow any impediment in SIR Process, says SC, warns states

The Supreme Court on Monday (February 9) said that it will not allow any impediment in the SIR process, adding that all states must understand the issue. The remarks were made by a bench of Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice NV Anjaria during a hearing on the ongoing SIR process in West Bengal.

“Whatever orders or clarifications are required, we will issue. But we will not allow any impediment in SIR. This must be understood by all states,” stated the CJI as quoted by Live Law.

‘Micro-observers can’t take decisions’

As for the West Bengal government’s objection to the deployment of micro-observers in relation to the SIR process in the state, the CJI said that micro-observers could not make decisions.

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During the hearing, Shyam Divan, appearing for West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee placed screenshots of the Election Commission’s website which states “micro-observers agree/disagree with EROs”, reported The Hindu.

‘Idea appears to be mass exclusion’

Divan read out instructions that names from the voters list should be excluded in case Aadhaar, and admit cards are submitted as documents.

“Even if a person has two documents, it is exclusion. Idea appears to be mass exclusion. These are the ‘wholesale instructions’ given,” added Divan.

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Divan further stated that the SIR process will conclude in West Bengal on February 14, and the final list will be released, adding that then “We would not know then how many have been reincluded in the roll or continue to be excluded.”

‘Computer becoming a tyrant’

He further stated that the computer has become “a tyrant”, adding that some software is being used to decide who remains and who gets excluded from the voters’ list.

Appearing for the Chief Electoral Officer of West Bengal, senior advocate Dama Seshadri Naidu informed the court that a “software” is being used to address irreconcilable discrepancies.

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At this point, Divan said that notices under the logical discrepancies category have been issued to 70 lakh people.

Naidu responded, saying that this was just the tip of the iceberg. “There have been cases of 200 children linked to one parent,” he added.

“Tools applied to your software are very restrictive. They are excluding natural discrepancies,” said Justice Joymalya Bagchi.