MP Sujeet Kumar defends SIR process, says it is mandated by Constitution of India

Rajya Sabha MP Sujeet Kumar has rebutted Congress leader Ajay Maken's recent take on electoral reforms wherein while speaking on the Special Intensive Revision of Electoral Rolls being carried out by the Election Commission of India, Maken highlighted three elements of legality, transparency and neutrality.

"Opposition claims that the ECI has no legal justification to conduct SIR. It's simply a voter list verification process. Bogus voters are removed and genuine voters list is prepared. This is simply the SIR and Article 324 of the Constitution and section 21(3) of the Representation of People's Act, 1951 mandates the ECI to do this", Kumar said while speaking in the Rajya Sabha yesterday during a discussion on Electoral Reforms.

Kumar further said that SIR is simply an exercise of legal authority given by the Constitution. Free and fair election has been read into the basic structure of the constitution as articulated by the honorable Supreme Court in the Kesavananda Bharati judgment and accuracy of the electoral role is one of the key essentials for free and fair election, Kumar added.

"SIR is being done in the most transparent process. Voters have to verify their inclusions in the rolls and they can raise claims for correction or objections from the period of publication of draft rolls to the release of final rolls", Kumar clarified.

Rajya Sabha MP Sujeet Kumar has, in recent years, has emerged as one of the more distinct voices in Parliament’s legal landscape. At a time when India’s legislative space is being reshaped by new technology, environmental stress and demands for institutional transparency, he is among the lawmakers attempting to build legal structures suited to a rapidly changing society. His interventions indicate a move toward a more research driven, future oriented style of lawmaking that is still relatively rare in the country’s legislative culture.

The Supreme Court, which is also seized of a batch of petitions challenging the ECI's decision to conduct SIR in different states had recently objected to Advocate Prashant Bhushan's reference to the Election Commission of India as a despot. As CJI Surya Kant's bench was hearing the petitions challenging the Election Commission’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, and other states, Advocate Prashant Bhushan told the bench that the ECI is being considered a despot.

Recently ECI thought an order dated October 27, 2025 has directed for an SIR to be conducted in various States and Union Territories such as the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Gujarat, Kerala, Lakshadweep, Madhya Pradesh, Puducherry, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and the State of Tamil Nadu.

https://lawbeat.in/top-stories/after-dmk-cpim-also-moves-supreme-court-against-tamil-nadu-sir-1538768