Terming a petition by the Kerala government to extend the date for submission of forms for the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) "just and fair", the Supreme Court on Tuesday advised the Election Commission to consider the proposal.
The Kerala government had approached the court and asked that the deadline be pushed back since the local body elections in the state are scheduled for December 9 and 11, and the counting will be held on December 13.
The Election Commission informed the bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi that the original deadline of December 4 has been extended to December 11, but the state said more time is needed to enable government employees engaged in local polls to fill their own forms.
"It seems to us that the aforesaid request is just and fair...we therefore permit Kerala to submit a request-cum-proposal for extension of the last date of the enumeration form by a week or so," Chief Justice Kant said.
Appearing for the Election Commission, Senior Advocate Rakesh Dwivedi said the last date for submission was December 4, which was extended by a week to December 11.
"You extend it more so anyone who has missed out will also get an opportunity...Any officers in the state occupied in the elections would also want to enrol in the (SIR)," Chief Justice Kant replied.
When he was told that the State Election Commission has filed an affidavit that the staff involved in local body elections have been exempted from SIR duties, the Chief Justice remarked, "It appears the government machinery does not have a problem (with the SIR process and local body elections being done simultaneously), certain political parties have a problem."
The Election Commission informed the court that the state has deployed 1.76 lakh dedicated staff for the State Election Commission, while 25,468 have been deployed for the SIR process.
"98.8% of SIR forms have been distributed and 80% of the forms have been digitised upon receipt," the poll body said.
