The Supreme Court has upheld the ECI's power to conduct a Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls. Examine the constitutional and statutory basis of this power and the safeguards needed to prevent disenfranchisement.

A Special Intensive Revision (SIR) is the Election Commission of India's (ECI) house-to-house re-verification of electoral rolls [1]. In May 2026, the Supreme Court upheld this power and linked it to free and fair elections (2026 INSC 564) [3]. The power is now settled. The open question is how to clean the rolls without removing eligible voters.

Constitutional and statutory basis

• Article 324: gives the ECI superintendence, direction and control of the preparation of electoral rolls. The Bihar SIR was ordered under it, with 1 July 2025 as the qualifying date [1].
• Section 21(3), RP Act, 1950: allows a special revision "at any time", for reasons to be recorded, "in such manner as it may think fit". The Court read its non-obstante clause as freeing SIR from the rules for ordinary revision [3].
• Registration of Electors Rules, 1960: set out the procedure and the forms. The Phase II order covering 9 States and 3 UTs relied on Article 324, Section 21 and these Rules [2].
• Judicial limit: the ECI may inquire into citizenship only to decide inclusion in or exclusion from the rolls. It cannot make a general finding on citizenship [3].
• Counterweight: Article 326 guarantees universal adult suffrage, so wrongly removing a voter strikes at a constitutional right.

Why safeguards matter

• Burden shifts to the voter: if a voter's enumeration form is not collected, their name is left off the draft roll. Migrants and renters are most likely to be wrongly marked "shifted" or "absent".
• Strain on capacity: on 29 October 2026, the ECI extended claim deadlines in six States/UTs. Maharashtra's deadline moved to 13 November and Delhi's to 25 November [5].

Safeguards needed

• Due process: strictly enforce prior notice, at least 2–3 house visits before marking a voter "untraceable", appeals to the DM and CEO, and the role of party Booth Level Agents [4].
• Transparency: publish lists of excluded names booth by booth early in the extended claims window [5].
• Accessible documents: accept commonly held proof of identity, such as Aadhaar, for inclusion.
• Fair re-entry: create a separate route for existing electors who never received a form, instead of treating them as new Form 6 applicants. Any change to a form should come through amended Rules, not executive orders.
• Human review: no claim should be rejected automatically. Every rejection should need a reasoned order from the Electoral Registration Officer (ERO) after a hearing.

SIR has a firm basis in Article 324, Section 21(3) and the 1960 Rules, and the Supreme Court has affirmed it. Its legitimacy now depends on fair process: every exclusion should be traceable and open to challenge, and restoring a name should be easy. A clean roll and an inclusive roll must go together. Only then will SIR meet the ECI's own goal of "No Voter to be Left Behind" and the promise of Article 326.