Electoral roll integrity is the foundation of free and fair elections. Examine the constitutional and statutory framework governing the revision of electoral rolls in India, and the safeguards against wrongful deletion.

Under Article 324, the Election Commission of India (ECI) has "superintendence, direction and control" over preparing electoral rolls [2]. An accurate roll needs two things: every eligible citizen included, and no one removed by mistake. India's framework sets out both duties, but its safeguards against wrongful deletion work only when voters take part.

Constitutional framework

• Art. 325: one general roll for each constituency; no one excluded on grounds of religion, race, caste or sex [2].
• Art. 326: adult suffrage for citizens aged 18 or above on the qualifying date [2].
• Arts. 327–328: Parliament and State Legislatures can make laws on roll preparation [2].

Statutory framework

• RPA, 1950: Sec. 16 sets out who is disqualified (for example, non-citizens). Sec. 19 requires a person to be 18 and ordinarily resident in the constituency [2].
• Sec. 21: the roll must be revised before every general election and bye-election. Under Sec. 21(3), the ECI can order a special revision at any time, for reasons recorded. The existing roll stays in force until that revision is complete [1].
• Registration of Electors Rules, 1960 (Rule 25): allows intensive, summary or mixed revision. In practice the ECI holds a Special Summary Revision (SSR), which includes house-to-house checks by Booth Level Officers (BLOs) [3].
• Election Laws (Amendment) Act, 2021: created four qualifying dates a year (1 Jan, 1 Apr, 1 Jul, 1 Oct) [4].

Safeguards against wrongful deletion

• Natural justice: the Sec. 22 proviso requires the Electoral Registration Officer (ERO) to give a "reasonable opportunity of being heard" before deleting a name. The Supreme Court highlighted this in Lal Babu Hussein (1995) [1][2].
• Transparency: the draft roll is published for claims and objections. Political parties get free copies of the rolls and weekly lists of claims and objections, and can appoint Booth Level Agents [3].
• Appeal: under Sec. 24, an ERO's order can be appealed, up to the Chief Electoral Officer [1].
• Aadhaar safeguard: no one can be refused enrolment or deleted for being unable to give Aadhaar for "sufficient cause" [4].

Gaps

• Sec. 23(3) freezes the roll once nominations close, so a wrongful deletion found after that point cannot be fixed [1].
• Summary revision relies on objections, which lets bulk objections be filed against others. "Sufficient cause" will be defined only in rules made later [4].

Together, Articles 324–326, the RPA 1950 and the 1960 Rules form a strong, rule-based system with natural justice built in. To make these safeguards real, the ECI should publish booth-wise deletion lists with reasons and alert each voter by SMS or app before deletion. This would protect the right to vote under Article 326 and SDG 16.7 (inclusive decision-making).