The ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) has approached the Supreme Court challenging the constitutional validity of Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in Tamil Nadu, announced by the Election Commission of India (ECI). The petition filed by DMK’s organising secretary RS Bharathi on Monday, November 3, a day before the commencement of SIR in Tamil Nadu, has challenged the SIR on 65 grounds.
The petition contended that the ECI’s directive issued on October 27, based on guidelines issued by the ECI on June 24, are in violation of Articles 14 (right to equality), 19 (Right to freedom), 21 (Right to Life), 325 (prohibition of discrimination in the Electoral roll) and 326 (Universal adult franchise) of the Constitution of India as well as provisions of Representation of People’s Act, 1950 and the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960.
If not set aside, it will arbitrarily and illegally disenfranchise lakhs of genuine voters through unreasonably short timelines and stringent documentation requirements, the petition contended.
The move to file a petition challenging SIR comes after an all-party meeting organised by the DMK against its conduct in Tamil Nadu.
Constitutional overreach
The SIR is a clear case of constitutional overreach, the petition said. While Article 324 vests the ECI with superintendence over elections, this power operates only in fields unoccupied by legislation. Since electoral roll revision is comprehensively governed by Representation of the People Act (ROPA), 1950 and the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960, the ECI is acting in violation of the statutory framework by mandating an unprecedented de novo verification, it said.
Absence of statutory basis
The SIR lacks any statutory basis and is ultra vires to the 1960 Rules, as it mandates a wholesale de novo verification in the guise of a ‘Special Intensive Revision’ within an unreasonably short timeframe, the petition said.
The petition said the Section 21(3) of ROPA permits a special revision only for a specific constituency or part thereof and requires "reasons to be recorded," a condition conspicuously unfulfilled by the SIR orders. This exercise of power is patently arbitrary and egregious, it said.
The petition also contends that the ECI has assumed a rule-making role, which under Section 28(1) of ROPA lies solely with the Union government.
Overreach in assessing citizenship
The petition argues that the ECI is exceeding its authority by effectively acting as a citizenship assessor despite not having the power to assess the citizenship of individuals, which is a matter for the Union government under the Citizenship Act, 1955. By imposing citizenship-like burdens of proof, the SIR appears to be functioning as a de facto National Register of Citizens (NRC), acting beyond its statutory mandate, the petition said.
The exercise reverses the settled presumption that presence on the electoral roll is prima facie proof of voter eligibility (including citizenship). The burden of proving otherwise lies on the objector, not the existing registered voter
Procedural flaws and documentation burdens
The petition also highlighted several procedural flaws and documentation burden on electors including mandatory Enumeration Forms, which are not mentioned in ROPA or the 1960 Rules, as the operative starting point of the revision. The names of existing electors who fail to submit a duly filled Enumeration Form before the specified deadline will not be included in the draft roll, leading to the mass exclusion of voters in an arbitrary manner, it said.
The SIR mandates new and stringent document requirements for voters, particularly those not registered in the 2002/2005 electoral roll, requiring proof of citizenship from a limited list of 13 documents. Commonly available documents like Ration Cards, PAN Cards, and EPIC (Electors Photo Identity Card) have been excluded, despite being widely held by citizens, the petition said.
The petition also pointed out that a Special Summary Revision had been completed in Tamil Nadu between October 2024 and January 2025.
Lack of avenues to contest exclusion
Further, there is no prescribed method to conduct a hearing if a person wants to contest their exclusion from the voter roll, it said.
“The period for filing claims and objections is from December 9, 2025, to January 8, 2026. This partially overlaps with the notice phase, i.e., December 9, 2025, to
January 31, 2026, where decisions on Enumeration Forms and disposal of
Claims and objections have to be done concurrently by the EROs. The final roll is to be published on February 7, 2026. Therefore, effectively, People have been denied the statutory right of appeal from the decision,” the petition said.
Since there is no timeline set out for dealing with objection petitions, people are likely to be denied voting rights due to non-clearance of complaints before the final roll is released, it said.
The petition called on the court to Issue a writ of certiorari ( calling for records) pertaining to order notifying the SIR rules and requested the court to intervene to stop the SIR process in Tamil Nadu.