The Supreme Court on Monday (August 17, 2026) refused to interfere with the Election Commission of India’s decision to fix 2002 as the base year for the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls in Sikkim.
We will not interfere with the decision of the Election Commission of India (ECI). 2002 has been kept as the base year for the entire country. The NGO contended that electorate data added in 2002 do not match with the demographic data of Sikkim and considering 2002 as the base year would lead to further anomalies. The bench, however, did not agree with the petitioner, and said that voters enrolled in the electoral roll of 2002 have exercised their franchise in the subsequent polls held in the State. The bench said no ground was made out to interfere with the ECI’s decision to fix 2002 as the base year, and dismissed the petition.
Because the last SIR was then, it said that for the ongoing SIR exercise, the ECI has uniformly kept 2002 as the base year for all States.
The bench said, “The goal post cannot be shifted in the middle of the exercise. The bench said the petitioner can approach the ECI for creating a reasonable exemption for Sikkim. Justice Bagchi said that every border State has the problem of migration and faces the issue of demographic changes.
