Presumed ineligible: on the Election Commission of India’s SIR process
Commentary has flagged concerns with the Election Commission of India's Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, under which a large number of names have been removed from the rolls, with verification and restoration processes following at a later stage.
The SIR exercise, a nationwide house-to-house enumeration of electoral rolls, was announced in October 2025 and has since deleted voters found to be deceased, permanently shifted, enrolled in duplicate, or otherwise ineligible.
The concern raised is procedural: names are deleted first, and affected citizens must then prove their eligibility through claims-and-objections proceedings to be restored — inverting the ordinary expectation that ineligibility be established before a name is struck off.
The Supreme Court has separately examined and upheld the Commission's authority to conduct the SIR exercise, while directing greater transparency in publishing details of deleted names.
Article 324 — The Election Commission's Constitutional Mandate
Article 324 vests the "superintendence, direction and control" of the preparation of electoral rolls and the conduct of elections to Parliament, State Legislatures, and the offices of President and Vice-President in the Election Commission of India. This is the constitutional source of the Commission's authority to conduct roll revisions such as the SIR.
Key Details
- The Commission comprises the Chief Election Commissioner and such other Election Commissioners as the President may from time to time fix; appointments are now governed by the Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners (Appointment, Conditions of Service and Term of Office) Act, 2023.
- Article 326 guarantees elections to the Lok Sabha and State Legislative Assemblies on the basis of universal adult suffrage, making an accurate and inclusive electoral roll a constitutional prerequisite rather than a mere administrative exercise.
- Article 329 bars courts from interfering with electoral rolls or election matters except through an election petition, though writ jurisdiction has been used to examine the legality of the Commission's roll-revision process itself (as distinct from individual election results).
The SIR is an exercise of the Commission's Article 324 roll-preparation power; the editorial's concern is about the manner in which that power is exercised — whether due process precedes or follows deletion.
Statutory Framework for Electoral Roll Revision
The Representation of the People Act, 1950 and the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960 lay down the procedure for preparing and revising electoral rolls, including specific safeguards before a name can be deleted.
Key Details
- Section 21 of the Representation of the People Act, 1950 empowers the Election Commission to direct revision of electoral rolls — either the ordinary periodic revision before elections, or a special revision for any constituency, for reasons recorded in writing.
- Rule 21A of the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960 governs deletion of names on grounds such as death, shifting of residence, or multiple enrolment, and contemplates prior notice, inquiry, and a hearing before deletion.
- In Association for Democratic Reforms v. Election Commission of India (2026), the Supreme Court held that the SIR does not conflict with the Act or the 1960 Rules because the notice-and-hearing safeguards of Rule 21A are preserved "in substance," even though distributed across the enumeration, draft-roll publication, and claims-and-objections stages rather than concentrated before each individual deletion.
The editorial's core objection — that verification is happening after deletion rather than before — is precisely the question the Supreme Court examined in upholding the SIR; the Court found the process compliant in substance while directing more transparent disclosure of deleted names, leaving the practical burden of proving eligibility on affected citizens.
- Article 324: vests superintendence, direction and control of elections and electoral rolls in the Election Commission of India.
- Article 326: universal adult suffrage for elections to the Lok Sabha and State Legislative Assemblies.
- Section 21, Representation of the People Act, 1950: empowers ordinary and special revision of electoral rolls.
- Rule 21A, Registration of Electors Rules, 1960: procedure for deletion of names from electoral rolls.
- The nationwide Special Intensive Revision was announced in October 2025; multiple phases of the exercise have together resulted in over 13 crore name deletions.
- Association for Democratic Reforms v. Election Commission of India (2026 INSC 564): Supreme Court upheld the Commission's power to conduct the SIR.