Supreme Court directs ECI to extend Delhi SIR deadlines and remove cut‑off dates

Supreme Court on Oct 28 ordered the Election Commission of India to extend deadlines for Delhi's Special Intensive Revision (SIR) and to drop any cut‑off dates for re‑inclusion. The bench, comprising CJI Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice V. Mohana, said Form 6 of the SIR is "cast in stone" and that Forms 6, 7 and 8 cannot be altered. It gave the ECI two weeks to implement the changes and reminded the commission that no election is currently scheduled in the national capital. The court clarified it did not examine the "logical discrepancy" raised in the Bihar SIR case, noting that a similar issue in West Bengal was left as an interim measure without a constitutional ruling. The bench questioned why voters who missed earlier enumeration are now asked to fill Form 6, drawing a distinction between those shifting constituencies and those temporarily moving out. The Election Commission responded that exclusions do not occur at the draft roll stage and agreed to extend the deadline for filing claims, objections and enrolment forms for the Delhi SIR. CJI Surya Kant urged the commission to reach out to voters and keep accepting Forms 6 and 7 as the simplest remedy. ## Context The SIR process is a court‑ordered clean‑up of electoral rolls aimed at removing duplicate or ineligible entries. Extending deadlines and removing cut‑off dates helps ensure eligible voters are not inadvertently left out while the rolls are being corrected.