Special Intensive Revisions improve roll accuracy but risk disenfranchising vulnerable groups. Analyse.

A Special Intensive Revision (SIR) rebuilds the electoral roll afresh through house-to-house enumeration. It is ordered under Section 21(3), RP Act 1950, read with Article 324 [1]. It cleans the roll, but every voter has to establish eligibility again. That puts the risk of exclusion on those least able to bear it.

How SIR improves roll accuracy

• Removes ineligible entries: Bihar's SIR left about 65 lakh names out of the draft roll, including dead, shifted and duplicate entries [1]. The final roll had about 7.42 crore electors [2].
• Constitutional backing: in ADR v. ECI (2026), the Supreme Court held the exercise proportionate and consistent with free and fair elections [1].
• Curbs impersonation: fewer bogus entries leave fewer chances for false voting at the booth.
• Transparency: the Court directed the ECI to publish the excluded names with reasons [1].

How it risks disenfranchising vulnerable groups

• Documentation burden: the poor, the less literate and women who moved after marriage often lack the listed documents. Aadhaar was added as the 12th document only by court order [1].
• Migrant workers: people working away from home can miss enumeration or a hearing notice and be wrongly marked "shifted".
• Misuse of objections: in Aland (Karnataka), 2023, someone filed 6,018 Form 7 deletion requests online, but only 24 were genuine. The ERO registered an FIR [3]. Bulk filing like this can be used to target particular communities.
• Reversed burden: a wrongful deletion is quick to make but slow to undo before polling day.

Balancing accuracy and inclusion

• Due process: Rule 21A, Registration of Electors Rules 1960, requires notice and a hearing before any deletion [1][3].
• Limited citizenship role: when the ECI doubts someone's citizenship, it must refer the case to the competent authority under the Citizenship Act instead of deciding it finally [1].
• Way forward: Booth Level Officer (BLO) field checks before deleting anyone who did not reply to a notice, automatic flagging of people who file many objections, and enrolment camps for migrants.

SIR helps both accuracy and inclusion only when deletion is checked as carefully as enrolment. Door-step verification, public deletion lists and quick remedies can give a roll that is both clean and complete, keeping Article 326's promise of universal adult suffrage.