New Delhi, Oct. 15 -- The Supreme Court will hear on October 28 an application challenging the Election Commission of India's (ECI) decision to enrol deleted voters during Delhi's special intensive revision (SIR) as new voters. The court on Wednesday said that it intends to pass orders in the matter since the last date for Delhi voters to file claims and objections expires on October 30. The application, filed by RTI activist Anjali Bharadwaj, was mentioned by advocate Prashant Bhushan before Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant for an urgent hearing. Bhushan said that Bhardwaj and social activist Amrita Johri filed a petition on September 16, challenging the deletion of over 4.7 million voters in the Delhi's draft electoral roll published pursuant to SIR. However, the petition was listed for October 30, by which time the matter will be infructuous. "We are thinking of passing an order that will take care of the situation," the CJI responded, directing that all matters challenging the Delhi SIR be listed on October 28 along with the new application in question. Bhardwaj's application questioned an ECI modification to Form 6, which requires voters to provide legacy details linked to the 2002 rolls. The plea states that this modification lacks statutory backing because it was introduced through an executive order, and not a statutory amendment. In her plea, Bhardwaj also said a deleted voter should not be asked to apply as a new voter for re-inclusion, as it contradicts the declaration in Form 6, which requires every applicant to affirm that they are applying for inclusion in the electoral roll "for the first time". She said this amounts to a "false declaration" since these voters were on the rolls and voted in past elections. Such a statement, she stressed, could lead to penal consequences under Section 31 of the Representation of Peoples Act, 1950. During the enumeration phase of SIR in Delhi, 4,756,722 electors (32.78% of the voters who existed prior to start of SIR) were excluded from the Draft Electoral Roll under the category of ASDD (Absent, Shifted, Dead, Duplicate or other categories). The process of receiving claims and objections is underway with the deadline of September 30 extended to October 30. To be sure, of the 9.7 million voters on the draft roll, 3.3 million were listed under logical discrepancies and unmapped. Of these, two million have been verified. The application in the top court pointed to two anomalies. "Firstly, an existing elector is being required to use a statutory form designed for a first-time elector (Form 6) thereby knowingly being forced to subscribe to a false declaration." Secondly, it added, "such elector is additionally subjected to an SIR-specific additional Declaration Form which is not contained in the statutory Form 6 and has not been brought into effect through the prescribed statutory process."...