Lawyers' group announces independent panel of ex-judges to enquire into SIR aftermath

A lawyers' body has taken the unusual step of setting up its own independent commission of five former Supreme Court and High Court judges to examine the Election Commission of India's controversial Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.

The Lawyers' Association for Constitution (LAFC) said the commission, chaired by former Supreme Court judge Justice M.B. Lokur, will independently evaluate the constitutional and statutory validity, methodology and overall impact of the SIR exercise on eligible voters. Its other members are former Supreme Court judge Justice A.K. Patnaik, former Jammu and Kashmir High Court Chief Justice Badar Durrez Ahmad, former Delhi High Court judge Justice Rekha Sharma and former Patna High Court judge Justice Anjana Prakash.

The commission plans public hearings across the country through full and regional benches, taking testimony from affected citizens, civil society groups and experts. A dedicated research wing will collate and analyse data on additions and deletions from electoral rolls nationwide, and a legal support team will scrutinise the legislation, notifications and verification processes behind the revision.

The move follows a groundswell of opposition to the SIR. On September 28, a broad coalition of former judges, senior advocates and activists — including Justice Lokur, former Chief Election Commissioner S.Y. Quraishi, senior advocate Kapil Sibal and advocate Prashant Bhushan — met at the Press Club of India demanding that the exercise be rolled back, deleted voters be restored, and the Commission's internal records be disclosed.

Petitioners and civil society groups have alleged that around 13 crore names were struck off across 30 states and Union Territories during the SIR, and that procedural changes — including unauthorised alterations to Form 6 and lakhs of appeals filed in West Bengal without proper authorisation — were made without formal decisions being recorded. A Supreme Court plea has sought prosecution of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and a court-monitored SIT probe into the deletions. The Election Commission maintains that roll revision is part of its constitutional duties and that challenges must follow prescribed election-law remedies.

With elections now being fought on SIR-revised rolls, the judges' commission promises the kind of independent scrutiny the poll panel has refused to apply to itself.