Discuss the constitutional and statutory basis of the Election Commission's power to revise electoral rolls. How can procedural safeguards prevent wrongful exclusion?

An electoral roll is the legal record of who may vote. The Supreme Court's 2026 SIR judgment said that disputes over rolls are "never merely administrative" [1]. The ECI's power to revise rolls rests on a clear legal base. Its legitimacy, though, depends on safeguards that keep eligible voters on the roll.

Constitutional basis

• Article 324: gives the ECI superintendence, direction and control over the preparation of electoral rolls. The ordering of SIR in 16 States and 3 UTs on this basis is an example [2].
• Article 325: provides one general roll per constituency, with no exclusion on grounds of religion, race, caste or sex.
• Article 326: provides universal adult franchise. Any revision must respect this entitlement.

Statutory basis

• Section 21, RP Act, 1950: allows summary or intensive revision of rolls. Together with the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960, it sets out the procedure [2].
• Sections 22–24: cover correction of entries, inclusion of names, and appeals to the DEO and then the CEO.
• Routine updation: the yearly summary revision runs alongside the intensive exercise [3].

Safeguards against wrongful exclusion

• Due process before deletion: in Lal Babu Hussein (1995), the Supreme Court held that a name cannot be deleted without notice and a hearing.
• Door-to-door verification: BLOs make at least three house visits during enumeration [2]. Several attempts are required before an elector is marked untraceable [4].
• Wider document list: Aadhaar is now accepted as the 12th document [2].
• Flexible timelines: A.P.'s claims window was extended to 10 October. Physical hearings were dropped for "unmapped" and "logical discrepancy" cases [5].
• Multi-party scrutiny: A.P. has 68,868 BLAs appointed by parties [2]. Special Roll Observers add independent oversight [6].
• Gaps to fix:
• In Bihar, few claims came in despite legal aid, and no appeal was filed against 3.66 lakh deletions [1].
• The ECI should publish its flagging criteria and booth-wise reasons for deletion.
• BLOs should settle flagged cases at the voter's door.
• Legal Services Authorities should run outreach camps for migrants and homeless people.

Enumeration → Draft roll → Claims/Objections → Verification → Final roll
     ↑ BLO visits        ↑ notice + hearing       ↑ appeal (Sec 24)

Figure: SIR stages and the safeguard at each stage

Articles 324–326 and the RP Act, 1950 give the ECI firm authority over rolls. That authority should be used to include eligible voters as much as to remove ineligible ones. Transparent criteria, reaching voters at their doors, and effective appeals would make a "pure" roll an inclusive one too. This would fulfil the promise of Article 326 and strengthen trust in elections.