"Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls balances roll purity against the right to vote." Critically examine in light of recent judicial pronouncements.

A Special Intensive Revision (SIR) is a special revision of the electoral roll. The ECI orders it under Section 21(3), RP Act 1950, "for reasons to be recorded" [4]. The SIR does serve roll purity. However, recent cases show that the voter carries much of the cost of keeping the roll clean, and this weakens the universal adult franchise (Art. 326).

How SIR secures roll purity

• Constitutional legitimacy: In 2026 INSC 564 the SC upheld the SIR under Article 324 read with S. 21(3). It held that the ECI can act where the law is silent [1].
• Cleaning rolls: About 65 lakh names were left out of Bihar's draft roll. These were voters who had died, shifted permanently, enrolled in another State or could not be traced [3].
• Inclusion window: About 21.5 lakh electors were added through Form 6 before the final roll was published [2].
• Low dispute: The SC noted that few claims were filed and no appeals were made against the later deletion of 3.66 lakh names. It read this as a sign of a fair process [1].

Where it strains the right to vote

• Net shrinkage: Bihar's final roll had 7.42 crore electors, against 7.89 crore before the SIR. That is about 47 lakh fewer [1][2].
• Fragile "absent" label: A death or a double entry can be checked against records. "Absence" depends only on whether a booth officer found the person at home. In Mumbai and Pune, residents who moved out for building redevelopment were marked absent and deleted [6].
• Burden shifted to the citizen: Deleted voters must enrol again through Form 6, which is the form for new electors [5]. A false statement in it is punishable under S. 31 with up to one year's imprisonment, though only if the person knew it was false [4].

Judicial correctives

• Bounded discretion: The SC called Article 324 plenary, but said it must be used with due regard to parliamentary law [1].
• Transparency: On 14 August 2025 the SC directed the ECI to publish the excluded names with reasons [1].
• Interim protection: On 26 October 2026 a Bench headed by CJI Surya Kant assured Maharashtra's deleted voters that they would not be prosecuted for filing Form 6. This assurance was oral, so it does not yet bind anyone [6].

In short, the SIR delivers roll purity, and the courts have partly softened its tendency to exclude voters. Three steps would make the balance real:

• record the no-prosecution assurance in a written order;
• add a "deleted in SIR" restoration option to Form 6;
• check redevelopment lists before marking anyone absent.

Together, these would make a clean roll a complete one, as Article 326 requires.