Supreme Court Rejects Plea Over Tamil Nadu Electoral Roll Deletion After ECI Cites Delay

The Supreme Court on Friday rejected a plea filed by one C Geetha who approached the Court after her name was deleted from the electoral roll following the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls in Tamil Nadu.

Senior Advocate DS Naidu, appearing for Election Commission of India, opposed the request on the ground that the challenge was belated. "It is too late," Naidu told a CJI Kant led bench.

A bench comprising Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice Vipul Pancholi heard Senior Advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan, who appeared for Geetha.

"I don't understand why the election commission should get concerned with it. Why do you want to exclude people?" Sankaranarayanan submitted. Court was further told that Geetha had been on the electoral roll continuously since 2007 and possessed multiple identity documents, a passport, Aadhaar card, and earlier Elector Photo Identity Card.

Geetha had approached the Supreme Court after she was denied relief by the Madras High Court last week.

Ahead of Tamil Nadu Assembly Elections, the Election Commission of India had published the final electoral roll of voters in the state following the SIR exercise. As many as 97.37 lakh names of voters were deleted under various categories, summing up the number of voters in the state at 5.67 crore.

Supreme Court had monitored the SIR taking place in Tamil Nadu. It had also issued a set of directions to ease the pressure on Booth Level Officers (BLOs) engaged in the SIR process, after observing that several state employees were facing “extreme difficulties” while being deployed for election-related duties.

Earlier CPI(M) and DMK had approached the Supreme Court challenging the constitutional validity of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in Tamil Nadu. Court was told that the SIR has no statutory basis and amounts to a “colourable exercise of power” by the Election Commission.

In response, ECI had told the Supreme Court that the petitions filed by Communist Party of India (Marxist) and Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) challenging the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Tamil Nadu are aimed at creating narratives to serve vested political interests.

ECI had further stated that to ensure that the SIR exercise is conducted in a seamless manner and with optimal efficiency, as regards the State of Tamil Nadu, it has appointed 68,470 BLOs. Moreover, recognized National and State Political Parties have appointed more than 2,38,853 BLAs to provide assistance to the process and maintain oversight.

By an order dated October 27, 2025 ECI had 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.

Case Title: C GEETHA Vs THE CHIEF ELECTORAL OFFICER

Bench: CJI Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice Pancholi

Hearing Date: April 10, 2026