India, May 28 -- The Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld the validity of the special intensive revision (SIR) conducted by the Election Commission of India (ECI), ruling that the exercise furthered the constitutional objective of free and fair elections and fell within the poll panel's powers under the Constitution and the Representation of the People Act, 1950.

In a significant 124-page judgment with far-reaching consequences for India's electoral architecture, a bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant and justice Joymalya Bagchi rejected a batch of petitions challenging the legality of SIR, first undertaken in Bihar and subsequently undertaken across the country.

The court held that SIR "neither stands in direct conflict with t...