Owaisi moves Supreme Court against electoral roll revision, plea to be heard today

All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen president Asaduddin Owaisi moved the Supreme Court on Wednesday to challenge the manner in which the Election Commission is executing the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls. A bench headed by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant agreed to examine the petition and list it alongside connected matters.

Advocate Nizamuddin Pasha, appearing for the Hyderabad parliamentarian, mentioned the plea before a bench that also included Justice Joymalya Bagchi. The counsel submitted that the petition raises substantial questions regarding procedural safeguards and the methodology adopted during the revision exercise, requesting that it be tagged with pending litigations on the subject.

The apex court registry listed the matter for hearing along with a joint petition filed earlier by Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi and several other opposition leaders. The collective opposition legal challenge questions large-scale voter deletions and administrative decisions taken during the revision process across multiple states.

Owaisi's petition argues that while the Election Commission possesses statutory authority under the Representation of the People Act, the execution of the revision must strictly conform to procedural fairness and statutory mandates. The legal challenge questions whether software-driven processes and automated classifications are displacing statutory jurisdictions required under law.

The ongoing revision exercise has triggered intense political friction, culminating in demonstrations in the national capital and subsequent legal battles. Opposition leaders have petitioned the court seeking independent audits of voter deletions, access to internal commission records, and interim suspensions of the revision drive to protect the franchise of eligible citizens.

The Supreme Court cause list indicates that the bench will take up the batch of petitions during Thursday's proceedings. The hearings are expected to address the procedural legality of the administrative steps implemented by the poll panel during the nationwide electoral roll updates.