SC Refuses To Alter 2002 Base Year For Sikkim SIR

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday refused to interfere with the Election Commission of India's (ECI) decision to fix 2002 as the base year for the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Sikkim.

A three-judge bench comprising Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V. Mohana dismissed a PIL filed by “Sikkimese Mulniwasi Surakacha Sangh”, an NGO, seeking a direction to the poll panel to consider 1993 instead of 2002 as the base year for the ongoing SIR exercise in the state.

"The goal post cannot be shifted in the middle of the exercise. 2002 has been kept as the base year for the entire country. We will not interfere with the decision of the Election Commission of India (ECI)," the apex court said.

The bench said no ground was made out to interfere with the ECI's decision and dismissed the petition.

The NGO contended that electorate data added in 2002 did not match Sikkim's demographic data and that using 2002 as the base year would lead to further anomalies.

The court, however, did not agree with the contention and said voters enrolled in the 2002 electoral roll had exercised their franchise in subsequent elections in the state.

It noted that the ECI had uniformly kept 2002 as the base year for all states for the ongoing SIR exercise as the last such revision was conducted that year.

The court said the petitioner could approach the ECI to seek a reasonable exemption for Sikkim.

CJI Kant observed that no aggrieved person had approached the court except the NGO and told its counsel that asking the court to interfere with the ECI's decision at the organisation's behest would be a dangerous proposition.

Justice Bagchi said every border state faced migration and demographic changes.