The Supreme Court on Thursday closed proceedings on 13 petitions, including that of DMK, which had challenged the Election Commission’s decision to conduct Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the voter list in Tamil Nadu. A bench of Chief Justice (CJI) Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice V. Mohana heard the arguments of advocate Vivek Singh, appearing for DMK’s organizing secretary RS Bharti.
The lawyer said that in view of the court’s decision on the petitions challenging the SIR process in Bihar, there is no need for hearing or decision on these petitions. After this the bench disposed of all the 13 petitions related to the issue.
Decision on petitions challenging SIR
On May 27, a CJI-led bench had given its verdict on several petitions challenging the SIR in Bihar and had upheld the Election Commission’s right to conduct the process. On November 3 last year, DMK had approached the Supreme Court against SIR, calling it unconstitutional, arbitrary and a threat to democratic rights.
Refusal to hear the petition
At the same time, the Supreme Court refused to hear a PIL requesting to direct the Madras High Court to ensure expeditious disposal of 54 election petitions related to the 2026 Tamil Nadu Assembly elections. Tamilaga Vetri Kazhagam (TVK) led by actor-turned-politician Joseph Vijay had won the Tamil Nadu Assembly elections held on April 23 this year.
Wrong precedent will be set: CJI
Petitioner K. appeared before a bench comprising Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice V. Mohana. Senior advocate D.S. appeared on behalf of Venkatachalapathi. Naidu argued that the Madras High Court should be directed to set up a special bench for time bound disposal of election petitions. To this the CJI said, this would set a wrong precedent. Along with this, the bench refused to consider the petition.
Freedom to approach Madras High Court
However, the bench granted liberty to the petitioner to approach the Madras High Court for necessary relief. In the petition filed through advocate Sameer Malik, it was requested that 54 election petitions related to Tamil Nadu Assembly elections pending in the Madras High Court be directed to be disposed of within a time limit of six months.
Challenge the validity of the election results
It was said in the petition that this period is prescribed in Section 86 (7) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 (RPA) or these petitions should be disposed of within such period as the court deems appropriate. It was said in the petition that these election petitions filed between June 3 and June 18 have challenged the validity of the election results of various assembly constituencies after the Tamil Nadu Assembly election results declared on May 4. According to the petition, due to long pending of these disputes, the legislative intention behind the Representation of the People Act is defeated.
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