The Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls raises questions about the scope of the ECI's plenary powers under Article 324. Analyse.

Article 324 gives the Election Commission of India (ECI) the "superintendence, direction and control" of preparing electoral rolls [1]. In May 2026 it ordered a Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in 16 States and 3 UTs, citing Article 324 and Section 21, RP Act, 1950 [2]. The exercise tests whether the ECI's plenary power is unlimited or works only within limits.

Nature of the power

• Mohinder Singh Gill (1978): Article 324 is a reservoir of power where the law is silent. Where Parliament has made a law, the ECI must act in line with it and follow natural justice.
• Section 21(3) lets the ECI order a special revision "in such manner as it thinks fit". This gives the SIR a firm statutory basis [2].

Questions the SIR raises

• Legal limits: the Representation of the People Act and the Registration of Electors Rules already govern enrolment. Can the ECI change documents or add declarations by executive order without amending the rules? Litigation over modified Form 6 tests exactly this line.
• Citizenship check vs. right to vote: Article 326 limits the franchise to citizens. But making voters prove eligibility in a short window risks excluding the poor and migrants. The SIR's own aim is that no eligible citizen is left out [2].
• Due process: claims, objections and removals must follow natural justice, as Gill requires. Mass deletions without notice would fail that test.
• Administrative accountability: the officer who signed the 24 June 2025 SIR order was sent back to his parent cadre midway. Election Commissioners then took a dispute over how files were routed to the Cabinet Secretary [3]. Plenary power depends on a secretariat the ECI does not control.
• Independence: PRS notes that the 2023 Act gives the government a majority on the selection panel. It also leaves the long-pending demand for an independent secretariat (Goswami Committee) unmet [4].

Putting it together Article 324 gives the ECI wide power to fill gaps in the law. It does not let the ECI override statute, fairness or the right to vote.

Way forward

• Turn SIR procedures into formal rules under the RP Act, so they do not rest on one-off orders.
• Set up a statutory ECI secretariat, and keep key officers in place during big exercises.
• Act on the Law Commission's 255th Report, which recommends strengthening the ECI's office [5].

The SIR shows that Article 324 is a tool for running elections well, not a blank cheque. If its plenary power is used within the law, through fair procedure and with protection from executive pressure, it can deliver accurate rolls and universal adult franchise. Free and fair elections are part of the Constitution's basic structure.