Goa, Oct. 6 -- The Goa High Court has rejected the Election Commission of India's (ECI) request to defer the hearing of a petition filed by St Cruz resident Paresh Salgaonkar and his family members challenging the non-inclusion of their names in the electoral rolls following the Special Intensive Revision (SIR).

The High Court observed that "there is no substantial challenge to the SIR or the SIR process in this petition", and therefore declined to defer the matter on the grounds that related SIR issues are pending before the Supreme Court.

The petition will now be taken up by the High Court at 2:30 p.m.

The development comes amid ongoing legal scrutiny of the SIR exercise and challenges relating to the inclusion and exclusion of voter...