New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday sought response from the Election Commission (EC) on a fresh plea filed by Trinamool Congress (TMC) Rajya Sabha MP Dola Sen alleging that changes were made to Form 6 during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar without the apex court's approval.
The apex court also granted 10 days to petitioners to file a reply to the Election Commission's affidavit defending the SIR of electoral rolls and maintaining that the exercise was authorised by law and the relevant orders were approved unanimously by all three members of the poll body.
While hearing a batch of petitions, a bench comprising Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana took note of submissions of senior advocate and MP Maneka Guruswamy, appearing for Sen, that the EC wrongly claimed that the changes in Form 6 were approved by the top court.
In her petition, Sen, who is from the Mamata Banerjee faction, raised concerns over alleged changes to the online version of Form 6 and the Election Commission’s subsequent press note suggesting that the Supreme Court had authorised or upheld the changes during the Bihar SIR proceedings.
Guruswamy argued that the EC had gone beyond the directions issued by the Supreme Court in the Bihar SIR case.
The court had not authorised the alleged changes to Form 6, she said, adding that the issue warranted consideration alongside the other pending petitions concerning the challenge to the SIR process.
While issuing the notice on Sen’s plea, the CJI said that all the issues would be examined and asked senior advocate Vikas Singh, who represented the first petitioner, Rakesh Kumar Singh, to file a rejoinder in 10 days to the poll authority's reply affidavit filed late Monday evening.
