Politics

Supreme Court Confirms Use of Final Voter List for Andhra Pradesh Local Body Elections

By TNN

The Supreme Court on Friday ruled that it is acceptable to delete names of deceased voters, those who have moved out of a ward, and duplicate entries during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. The court also clarified that the voter list used for local body polls in Andhra Pradesh will be the final list available on the election notification date, whether that is the post‑SIR list or the list as of January 1, 2026. A bench headed by Chief Justice Surya Kant, along with Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V. Mohana, rejected an appeal by the YSR Congress Party against the Andhra Pradesh High Court’s decision to reject the party’s request to defer local body elections until the SIR was finalized. The bench stated that SIR is necessary to remove voters who have died or moved, and to eliminate duplicate names, thereby correcting anomalies in the rolls. When the party argued that the High Court had directed the finalization of the post‑SIR voter list by October 16, the Supreme Court explained that, under the legislation governing panchayats, municipalities and municipal corporations, elections will be conducted using the final voter list available on the date the Election Commission notifies the elections. The court agreed that if the post‑SIR final electoral rolls are not published before the election notification, the Election Commission may use the list finalized on January 1, 2026 as the basis for the polls.