Examine the scope of judicial review over the administrative functions of the Election Commission of India in the context of large-scale deletions from electoral rolls.

Article 324 gives the ECI full control over electoral rolls, but that power can still be reviewed by courts. The Special Intensive Revision (SIR) cut about 65 lakh names from Bihar's draft roll alone [3]. It tests how far courts will scrutinise a roll-cleaning exercise that may remove genuine voters.

Constitutional basis of review

• Mohinder Singh Gill (1978): ECI powers supplement, not supplant, the law. Where its action has civil consequences, natural justice is read into Art. 324 [1].
• Roll revision is administrative action and is open to writ review under Arts. 32/226. The SIR petitions were decided on their merits [2].

Scope as exercised in ADR v. ECI (2026)

• Legality: the Court traced SIR to Sec. 21(3) of the RP Act, 1950, read with Art. 324 [2].
• Proportionality: it held the measures rationally connected to their aim and "not manifestly excessive" [2].
• Procedure: it found the Rule 21A safeguards of notice and hearing "preserved in substance" [2].
• Jurisdictional limits: the ECI may make only a limited eligibility enquiry. Deletions on citizenship grounds must be referred within 4 weeks to the authority under the Citizenship Act, 1955, with notice and hearing [2].
• Individual remedy: electors wrongly deleted as absent, dead or shifted may seek judicial review. The Court had also ordered Aadhaar to be accepted (8 September 2025) [2].

Limits: where review stays deferential

• The Court upheld the document list as a "considered exercise of administrative discretion" [2]. It tested the ECI's power, not the accuracy of its method.
• Review comes after the fact and case by case. Bihar's final roll needed 21.53 lakh additions at the claims stage [3], so voters' own effort fixed the draft's gaps.
• The presumption in favour of an enrolled elector was held to be rebuttable [2]. This shifts the burden onto those least able to go to court.

Way forward

• Publish deletion lists with reasons, and draft-versus-final figures, before rolls are finalised.
• Accept Aadhaar at enumeration and decide citizenship cases within fixed time limits.

Judicial review therefore checks the ECI's legality, procedure and jurisdiction, but defers to it on how the exercise is designed. Review that looks more closely at process, and insists on transparency and a presumption in favour of inclusion, would balance clean rolls with Art. 326's promise of universal adult franchise. That would keep the ECI a guarantor of the vote, not a gatekeeper.