The 'Absent, Shifted, Dead, Duplicate, Others' (ASDDO) categorisation in SIR exercises has raised concerns about wrongful exclusion of genuine voters. Examine the administrative and legal safeguards needed to prevent this.

The Special Intensive Revision (SIR) tags electors as Absent, Shifted, Dead, Duplicate or Others (ASDDO) during house-to-house enumeration before their names are dropped [1]. In Karnataka's draft roll of 24 August 2026, about 1.08 crore of 5.54 crore electors fell in this category, showing how thin the line is between roll purification and disenfranchisement [2][3].

Where the exclusion risk arises

• Field-based tagging: "Absent/Shifted" rests on a Booth Level Officer's visit; migrant workers, students and urban tenants are absent by circumstance, not ineligible [1].
• Notice asymmetry: electors flagged for "logical discrepancy" (~43.8 lakh in Karnataka) get individual notices, while ASDDO-tagged voters risk silent deletion [3].
• Compressed calendar: barely a month (24 August–23 September 2026) for over a crore persons to file claims [2].

Administrative safeguards

• Individual notice with reasons before every deletion, not mere publication of lists; door-step BLO assistance and online Form 6 filing [2].
• Realistic timelines — the ECI has itself revised SIR schedules in several States, proving extensions are administratively feasible [1].
• Targeted drives for migrants, the elderly and the poor, plus wide vernacular publicity.
• Capacity and audit: adequate ERO/BLO strength and supervisory re-verification of a random sample of ASDDO deletions.

Legal safeguards

• Section 21(3) of the Representation of the People Act, 1950 permits special revision, but Sections 22–24 mandate notice, hearing and appeal before any entry is amended or deleted [4].
• Article 324 superintendence must operate consistently with Article 14 and 21 due process — no ex parte removal.
• The Supreme Court in the Bihar SIR case (ADR v. ECI) widened admissible documents, treating Aadhaar as identity though not citizenship proof, and permitted online inclusion applications — directions worth codifying as national SIR guidelines [5].
• Reasoned, appealable speaking orders and public disclosure of deletion data.

Accurate rolls and inclusive rolls are complementary, not competing, objectives. A rights-protective SIR — generous timelines, individual notice and reasoned appealable orders — would let the Commission cleanse the register while honouring universal adult franchise under Article 326.