Should the Right to Vote Be a Fundamental Right? The Legal Status of Voting Explained
A recent media investigation (published on 23 September 2026) reported a serious internal split inside the three-member Election Commission of India (ECI).
According to the report, the two Election Commissioners recorded 14 objections over 10 months against decisions of the Chief Election Commissioner. The objections were about changes to rules, additions and deletions of voters, and central control over voter data, allegedly made without the full Commission's approval.
The report also found that 97 eligible voters in Goa were left out of the electoral roll (the official voter list). The ECI's central software platform, ECINet, reportedly did not allow local Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) to reverse the wrong deletions, even after they flagged the errors.
Being on the voter list matters beyond voting. Some state schemes, such as the Goa Mediclaim Scheme for costly treatments like dialysis and transplants, use the electoral roll to decide who is eligible.
The episode has restarted an old debate: should the right to vote, which the Supreme Court treats as a statutory right (a right given by an ordinary law), be raised to the level of a fundamental right (a right in Part III of the Constitution that citizens can directly enforce in the Supreme Court)?
Article 326 and the Right to Vote
The right to vote means every adult citizen can choose who will represent them in the Lok Sabha and the state Legislative Assembly. In India, this right comes from Article 326 of the Constitution, which says elections will be held on the basis of universal adult suffrage: every citizen aged 18 or above can vote, unless a law disqualifies them on a few fixed grounds. But the Supreme Court has held that the right to vote is a statutory right, not a fundamental right. This single point, "constitutional promise but statutory right", is one of the most tested ideas in Indian polity.
The reported wrongful deletion of eligible voters in Goa, and the internal split in the Election Commission, show what can happen when a citizen's vote depends only on a statutory right and on internal correction systems. This is why the question of making voting a fundamental right has come back into public debate.
Appointment and Removal of the Chief Election Commissioner and Election Commissioners
The Election Commission of India (ECI) is led by a Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) and, at present, two Election Commissioners (ECs). Article 324 of the Constitution lets the President appoint them, subject to a law made by Parliament. The rules on how they are appointed, how they take decisions together and how they can be removed are meant to keep the Commission independent and working as one body.
The reported objections by two Election Commissioners against the CEC's decisions raise a direct question about how the multi-member Commission must take decisions. Under the 2023 Act, rules on procedure need unanimity and disagreements must be settled by majority, not by one member alone.
Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of Electoral Rolls
An electoral roll is the official list of voters for a constituency, and only people on it can vote. The Election Commission revises these lists regularly so that new voters are added and dead, shifted or duplicate names are removed. A Special Intensive Revision is the most detailed type, in which the list is rebuilt almost from scratch through house-to-house checks. Any revision must balance two goals: removing wrong names and never removing a genuine voter.
The Goa case shows the risk in roll revision: 97 eligible voters were reportedly removed, and local EROs could not reverse the deletions on the central software. Since some state schemes also use the voter list, a wrong deletion can take away both the vote and access to welfare.
- Reported internal objections in the ECI: 14 objections over 10 months by two Election Commissioners
- Eligible voters reportedly dropped in Goa: 97
- Article 326: adult suffrage; voting age 18 (61st Amendment Act, 1988; in force 28 March 1989)
- Article 325: single general electoral roll; no exclusion on religion, race, caste or sex
- Article 324: ECI's superintendence, direction and control of elections
- Kuldip Nayar v. Union of India (2006): five-judge bench; right to elect is a statutory right
- Jyoti Basu v. Debi Ghosal (1982): right to elect is "pure and simple, a statutory right"
- PUCL (2013): NOTA introduced; right to vote includes right to reject
- RPA 1951, Section 62(5): no voting from prison; preventive detainees excepted
- ECINet: launched 22 January 2026; integrates 40+ ECI apps
- First general election 1951-52: about 173 million voters