Clean electoral rolls and universal adult franchise can sometimes pull in different directions. Discuss in the context of recent electoral roll revisions in India.

Article 326 gives every adult citizen the vote. Article 324 makes the Election Commission of India (ECI) responsible for accurate rolls. The Special Intensive Revision (SIR) began in Bihar in 2025 and is now being run in phases across States [4][2]. It shows that the two goals share one aim, a credible electorate, but can clash in method.

How clean rolls protect the vote

• Integrity: Dead, duplicate and shifted entries make fake voting possible and weaken genuine votes. The Supreme Court held that SIR is a proportionate exercise to restore the "accuracy, completeness, and integrity" of rolls (2026 INSC 564) [1].
• Legal basis: SIR rests on Section 21(3), RP Act 1950, read with Article 324 and the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960 [1][2].
• Safeguards: Booth officers make repeated visits and must record reasons for any deletion. Voters can file claims on the draft roll and appeal to the DM and the Chief Electoral Officer. Party booth agents can flag errors [3].

Where they pull apart

• Burden shifts to the voter: An elector not traced after repeated visits is left off the draft roll [3]. Proving eligibility becomes the citizen's job, not the State's.
• Vulnerable groups: "Absent" and "shifted" are judgements made at the doorstep, so migrants and renters are most exposed. The Court allowed people wrongly deleted on these grounds to seek judicial review [1].
• Documents: A narrow document list excludes the poor. The Court had to order that Aadhaar be accepted (order of 8 September 2025) [1].
• Citizenship creep: Booth-level checks risk becoming citizenship tests. The Court limited the ECI to a limited enquiry for roll inclusion only, with doubtful cases sent to the Citizenship Act authority within four weeks [1].
• Tight timelines: In October 2026 the ECI extended claim windows in six States/UTs, including Maharashtra and Delhi [5]. This suggests that verification needs more time than the schedule allowed.

Reconciling the two

• Publish the names left off the roll for each polling booth before claim deadlines.
• Give existing electors a simple route back onto the roll and accept common documents.
• Have an officer review every case before rejection, and set timelines to match the workload [5].

Purity of the roll and inclusion are two sides of the same democratic promise. The right method is to include first and verify fairly, so that every exclusion is reasoned and can be challenged. This keeps the ECI's mandate in line with Article 326 and SDG 16.7 (inclusive decision-making).