NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Thursday asked the Election Commission to make public the names of people excluded from the draft electoral rolls published after the special intensive revision process in Kerala to enable affected voters to raise objections. A bench headed by Chief Justice Surya Kant also asked the poll panel to consider extending the deadline, preferably by two weeks, for filing objections against the deletion of names. The counsel, appearing for EC, said that the issue of extension of deadline will be considered. The bench was hearing a batch of petitions challenging the special intensive revision (SIR) process undertaken in Kerala. The petitioners include Kerala, senior political netas such as PK Kunhalikutty of IUML and MV Govindan Master of CPM. The pleas have said the SIR process, as currently executed, risks disenfranchising a massive segment of the population due to technical errors and a lack of a robust redressal mechanism. During the brief hearing, the counsel appearing for the petitioners submitted that according to the draft rolls released after the revision, nearly 24 lakh names had been deleted. It was argued that while voters are required to file objections against deletion, the list of excluded persons has not been made accessible, effectively denying them a meaningful opportunity to contest the removal of their names. “They have to list objections, but the list of those persons deleted is not available. Now people have to file objections stating why have you deleted me… that opportunity is missing for us,” one lawyer said. The petitioners further said that in the draft rolls, some voters have been erroneously shown as deceased, while others have been marked as residing outside the state. The lack of transparency has caused serious difficulties for voters, particularly in rural areas.
