Discuss the constitutional and statutory basis of the Election Commission's power to revise electoral rolls. How does SIR differ from routine roll revision?

Article 324(1) vests the superintendence, direction and control of the preparation of electoral rolls in the Election Commission of India (ECI) [1]. The Special Intensive Revision (SIR), first run in Bihar in 2025, is the sharpest recent exercise of this power — and the sharpest test of it.

Constitutional basis

• Article 324(1) — plenary, self-executing power over roll preparation and conduct of elections, exercisable where law is silent [1].
• Article 325 bars exclusion from any roll on grounds of religion, race, caste or sex; Article 326 mandates adult suffrage — the outer limits within which any revision must operate [1].

Statutory basis

• RPA, 1950 creates the machinery: Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) prepare and revise rolls for every constituency; Section 21(2) provides for revision before each general election, and Section 21(3) empowers the ECI, "for reasons to be recorded", to direct a special revision at any time [2].
• Sections 22–23 govern deletion, correction and inclusion of entries, requiring notice and hearing [2].
• Registration of Electors Rules, 1960 operationalise this — a roll may be revised intensively, summarily, or partly both, as the ECI directs [3].

How SIR differs from routine revision

• Method: routine summary revision is incremental — additions/deletions via Forms 6, 7, 8 on an existing roll. SIR is de novo enumeration: every elector fills a fresh Enumeration Form; over 7.24 crore did so in Bihar [4].
• Burden: routine revision presumes the existing entry valid; SIR shifts the onus to the elector to re-establish eligibility against a qualifying date (01.07.2025) [5].
• Frequency and scale: summary revision is annual; Bihar's previous intensive revision was in 2003 [5].
• Process: SIR runs enumeration → draft roll (1 August 2025) → claims and objections → final roll, with phased safeguards [4][6].

SIR thus converts a routine administrative chore into a full re-verification of the franchise — legally sound, but demanding. Its legitimacy rests on scrupulous notice, reasoned deletion orders and accessible appeals, so that purification never becomes exclusion. Bihar's record 66.91% turnout in 2025 [7] suggests clean rolls and wider participation can advance together — the true measure of Article 326's promise.