'Not concerned with any individual': Congress urges SC to summon records on SIR after EC's affidavit

NEW DELHI: Congress on Monday urged the Supreme Court to summon all relevant records related to the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, following the Election Commission's affidavit stating that all decisions were taken unanimously.Congress MP Imran Masood said the issue was about adherence to the rules and that the questions concerned the deletion of votes and Form 6."The Supreme Court should summon all the relevant records; even if all three agreed, the core issue remains 'Form 6'. If all three made an incorrect decision, then it is still wrong, isn't it? The issue is about adherence to the rules. We are not concerned with any individual," Masood said."The question concerns 'Form 6'. The question concerns the deletion of votes. How could the issue be resolved? The Election Commissioner is not the issue here. The issue is the theft of votes," he added.This comes hours after the poll panel submitted a counter-affidavit in the Supreme Court, defending its functioning and the conduct of the SIR exercise.The poll body rejected allegations of irregularities and questioned the basis of a petition challenging its decision-making process.

The Election Commission stated this in its response to pleas alleging that it took several decisions without the approval of the two election commissioners, including "changes" in Form 6.The law and the prescribed Form 6 for voter registration were not amended, the poll panel said in its counter-affidavit filed in the Supreme Court with the unanimous approval of CEC Gyanesh Kumar and the two election commissioners.The EC said the SIR orders issued on June 24, 2025, October 27, 2025, and May 14, 2026, were approved unanimously by the commission's three members - the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) and two election commissioners.It said the CEC could not be restrained from functioning, as newspaper reports were not considered evidence in the eyes of the law.

Earlier, on October 5, the top court said it would examine all decisions of the EC and annul those found not to be in accordance with the law, as it issued notices to the Centre and the poll body.The pleas were filed afterThe Indian Expressreported on September 25 that election commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had objected on record at least 14 times over the previous 10 months to decisions and orders on the SIR of electoral rolls that they said were issued without their knowledge or recommendation. The claim has sparked protests by opposition parties and the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), which have demanded the removal of CEC Kumar.