"Special Intensive Revisions aim at roll purity but risk mass disenfranchisement." Critically examine, with reference to recent experience in the States.

A Special Intensive Revision (SIR) prepares the electoral roll afresh. The Election Commission of India (ECI) directs it under Article 324 and Section 21(3) of the Representation of the People Act, 1950 [2][4]. Cleaner rolls are a valid goal. But recent experience in Bihar and Telangana shows that the method used can shut out eligible voters.

SIR as a tool for roll purity

• Constitutional mandate: Article 326 gives the vote only to citizens aged 18 or above. Rolls therefore have to drop dead, shifted, duplicate and ineligible entries.
• Judicial backing: In May 2026 the Supreme Court upheld the SIR as necessary for free and fair polls. It held that the exercise meets the proportionality test [2].
• One standard for all: Every elector in a revision faces the same checks, so no group enters the roll on a lighter test.

Risk of mass disenfranchisement

• Scale of exclusion: Bihar's draft roll fell from about 7.89 crore to about 7.24 crore electors [2].
• Changing the rules midway: Telangana rejected 1,92,574 of 5,20,331 (37%) Form 6 applications filed before the SIR. The reason was a missing SIR declaration that did not exist when they applied [1].
• Burden of proof on the voter: Applicants must show a link to the 2002 roll or produce one of 12 documents [1]. First-time voters, migrants and women who moved after marriage are the least likely to have either.
• Document barriers: Aadhaar was added as an identity document only after the Supreme Court ordered it (as proof of identity, not citizenship) [3].
• Paperwork is not ineligibility: Removal from the roll is not a finding that a person is not a citizen [2]. A rejection for a missing form therefore says little about who is actually ineligible.

Way forward

• Before rejecting an application, the Electoral Registration Officer (ERO) should send a notice to fix the defect and then give a speaking order (a written order with reasons).
• Reopen pre-SIR applications that were rejected only for the missing declaration.
• Publish reason-wise, constituency-wise rejection data.
• Send doubtful-citizenship cases to the competent authority under the Citizenship Act, 1955 [2].

Overall, the SIR rests on sound law, but how it is carried out decides whether it cleans the roll or shrinks the electorate. Due process and active outreach by booth-level officers can protect roll purity without excluding eligible voters. That keeps faith with Article 326 and the idea that every eligible citizen should be on the roll.