Accuracy of electoral rolls is the foundation of free and fair elections. Critically examine the respective roles of summary and intensive revisions in achieving inclusive and accurate rolls.

Article 325 requires one general roll per constituency, and no one may be excluded from it on grounds of religion, race, caste or sex. Article 326 gives every adult the vote, but only a person whose name is on the roll can use it [2]. The RP Act, 1950 and the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960 allow the roll to be revised summarily or intensively [3][4]. The two methods help accuracy and inclusion in different ways, and neither is enough on its own.

Summary revision: strengths

• Low-cost annual update: the existing roll is corrected through claims and objections on Forms 6, 6A, 7 and 8. Tamil Nadu's SSR 2027 runs from 12 November to 11 December 2026 [1].
• Many places to apply: weekend special camps on 21, 22 and 29 November, plus the BLO, ERO and AERO offices on working days [1].
• Public audit: the published draft roll lists 5,77,46,618 electors, so parties and citizens can check it [1].

Summary revision: weaknesses

• The voter must act first: migrants, students and daily-wage workers can miss a 30-day window that has only three camp days [1].
• Errors build up: names of people who died or moved stay on the roll, especially in high-mobility seats like Sholinganallur (5,58,729 electors) [1].
• Form 7 can be misused: mass objections can remove genuine voters if they get no real notice.
• Inclusion gaps: only 7,892 third-gender electors are on the roll, about 0.014% of the total [1].

Intensive revision: strengths

• Fresh house-to-house enumeration rebuilds the roll and removes duplicate, dead and shifted entries [4].
• The State goes to the voter: officials reach people who would never apply, and the roll gets a periodic reset. Tamil Nadu went through a Special Intensive Revision in late 2025 [5].

Intensive revision: weaknesses

• Risk of exclusion: heavy document demands and tight deadlines can drop genuine electors.
• Heavy staff load: it relies on State staff working under ECI control, which strains administration.

The two methods work best together. Intensive revision gives a periodic clean slate, and summary revision keeps the roll current between those resets. Steps that would help:

• year-round enrolment against the several qualifying dates in each year;
• SVEEP outreach to migrants, transgender persons and first-time voters at workplaces and colleges [6];
• constituency-wise publication of how every form was disposed of;
• notice and a hearing before any deletion.

A roll that includes every eligible person and has no false entries is what makes Article 326's promise real and advances SDG 16.7 on inclusive decision-making.