EC switches to damage control mode after facing flak over SIR

1. At a Glance

• The Special Intensive Revision (SIR) is a nationwide, door-to-door re-verification of the electoral rolls run by the Election Commission of India (ECI). It has drawn criticism over exclusions, "unmapped" voters and extra paperwork for new applicants [7].
• On 26 Sept 2026 the ECI announced corrective measures [7]:
• It stopped physical hearings for unmapped voters and for forms with "logical discrepancies."
• The extra declaration with Form 6 is now limited to the current SIR period.

• A special enrolment drive will cover anyone left out.

• The topic sits at the meeting point of Article 324, the RP Act, 1950, the universal adult franchise, and questions about the independence and internal working of the ECI [2][5][7].

• For the exam, expect Prelims questions on the statutory base, the process and the forms, and Mains questions on electoral integrity vs. inclusion and the accountability of constitutional bodies.

2. Why in the News

• On Saturday, 26 Sept 2026, the ECI announced a "slew of measures" to address concerns over the ongoing SIR. They came after a full-bench meeting of the Commission [7].
• The measures came days after reports of a rift among the Election Commissioners. The reported disagreement covered SIR issues and the ECI's internal working. The ECI said the decisions have the "approval of the full commission" [7].
• The SIR has already been completed in 20 States/UTs [7].
• Around the same time there was a political row over the possible removal of CEC Gyanesh Kumar (reported Sept 2026) [5].

3. Background & Evolution

• Legal basis: the ECI orders an SIR under three provisions [2]:
• Article 324 of the Constitution.
• Section 21 of the Representation of the People Act, 1950 (specifically Section 21(3), which covers special revision) [2][3].

• The Registration of Electors Rules, 1960.

• The ECI's stated reasons [1]:

• rapid urbanisation;
• frequent migration;
• young citizens becoming eligible to vote;
• deaths not being reported;

• names of foreign illegal immigrants being included in the rolls.

• Milestones:

• Bihar SIR: the ECI announced a Special Intensive Revision in Bihar, the first State in the current cycle [2].
• SIR Phase-II: covered 9 States + 3 UTs, about 51 crore electors, 321 districts and 1,843 Assembly Constituencies [1].
• Winter Session of Parliament (2025): the SIR dominated the Opposition's agenda, which demanded a debate on it [4].
• Supreme Court (reported May 2026): the Court upheld the SIR's legality. It held that the SIR's object has a "direct nexus" with the constitutional goal of free and fair elections [3].

• 26 Sept 2026: the ECI's damage-control measures (see Section 2) [7].

• Related earlier practice: the RP Act, 1950 also provides for routine summary revisions. An intensive revision is a fuller exercise in which the rolls are prepared afresh with house-to-house enumeration. (General background, not from the retrieved sources.)

4. Core Static Facts

Key terms

• Unmapped voters: electors whose enumeration entries could not be matched ("mapped") during the SIR. Until now they faced physical hearings; the ECI has now stopped these [7].
• Logical discrepancies: inconsistencies found in enumeration forms. Physical hearings for these have also been stopped [7].

5. Multi-Dimensional Analysis

Legal / Constitutional

• The SIR draws on the ECI's broad powers under Art. 324, together with S.21 of the RP Act, 1950 [2].
• The Supreme Court upheld the exercise because it is linked to free and fair elections [3]. Courts will still scrutinise how it is carried out, since procedural burdens can undercut the right to vote (a statutory right grounded in Art. 326).
• Limiting the Form 6 declaration to the SIR period [7] implicitly accepts that permanent extra conditions for new voters would be hard to defend.

Ethical / Governance

• Reports of a rift among Election Commissioners [7] and the row over CEC removal [5] put the ECI's collegial functioning and credibility under strain.
• By stressing "approval of the full commission" [7], the ECI is signalling institutional unity. That shows perceived legitimacy matters as much as legal authority.

Social

• Exclusion risk falls hardest on migrants, the urban poor, first-time/young voters, and people without documents [1][7].
• The special enrolment drive and the ERO-based route to inclusion [7] shift the balance from gatekeeping towards inclusion.

Administrative

• The scale is very large: about 51 crore electors in Phase-II alone [1], covering house-to-house enumeration, mapping and hearings.
• Replacing physical hearings with other processes lowers the burden on citizens and field staff [7]. The accuracy of remote verification remains a concern.

Political / Federal

• The SIR was a flashpoint in Parliament (Winter Session 2025) [4]. Phase-II included States such as Tamil Nadu, Kerala, West Bengal and Puducherry [1], which all went to Assembly polls in 2026.

6. Recent Developments (last 12–18 months)

• 2025, Winter Session: the Opposition pressed for a discussion on the SIR [4].
• SIR Phase-II launched in 9 States and 3 UTs covering about 51 crore electors [1].
• Reported May 2026: the Supreme Court upheld the legality of the SIR [3].
• Sept 2026: controversy over the possible removal of CEC Gyanesh Kumar [5].
• Sept 2026: reports of a rift within the ECI over the SIR and its internal working [7].
• 26 Sept 2026: the full bench of the ECI announced these measures [7]:
• physical hearings for unmapped voters and "logical discrepancy" cases stopped;
• the Form 6 declaration made mandatory only during the current SIR;
• left-out persons and young/first-time voters may apply to the ERO;
• a special enrolment drive to be launched immediately.

7. Prelims Hooks

• The ECI orders an SIR under Article 324, Section 21 of the RP Act, 1950 and the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960 [2].
• The specific provision for special revision is Section 21(3), RP Act 1950 [3].
• The RP Act, 1950 is Act No. 43 of 1950 [6].
• Form 6 is used for fresh voter registration [7].
• The extra declaration with Form 6 is mandatory only for the current SIR period [7].
• Claims for inclusion go to the Electoral Registration Officer (ERO) [7].
• SIR Phase-II covered about 51 crore electors in 9 States and 3 UTs [1].
• SIR Phase-II spanned 321 districts and 1,843 Assembly Constituencies [1].
• The Phase-II UTs were Andaman & Nicobar, Lakshadweep and Puducherry [1].
• Bihar was where the ECI began the current SIR cycle [2].
• The Supreme Court held that the SIR has a "direct nexus" with free and fair elections [3].
• As of 26 Sept 2026, the SIR had been completed in 20 States/UTs [7].
• Illegal foreign immigrants in the rolls is one of the ECI's stated reasons for the SIR [1].

8. Who Gets Cut From the Rolls, and Why It Is Mostly Migrants

• Bihar showed how big the cuts can be
• About 65 lakh names were dropped from Bihar's draft roll. All of them had been on the list made after the January 2025 summary revision [9].
• The ECI's reasons: death (22.34 lakh), "permanently shifted/absent" (36.28 lakh), and "already enrolled at more than one place" (7.01 lakh) [9].

• So more than half the cuts were people marked as moved away, not dead or duplicate.

• Across India, migration is the main reason for deletion

• Across three phases from June 2025 to August 2026, about 134 million (13.4 crore) electors were left out of draft rolls in 30 States/UTs [12].

• That is about 14% of registered electors. Migration or absence explains about 70% of these exclusions, and northern States are hit hardest [12].

• Why migrants fall through

• The RP Act, 1950 registers a person where they are "ordinarily resident" (where they normally live) [6].
• A seasonal worker from Bihar who works in Delhi but keeps a home and family in the village is often not at home when the enumerator comes. The worker is then marked "shifted".

• The worker is not yet enrolled in Delhi either. The result is a voter with no roll in either place.

• Why this matters for the exam

• The people the note lists as at risk (migrants and the urban poor) are not a side issue. By the ECI's own categories, they are the largest group removed [9][12].

9. Who Must Prove What: The Burden-of-Proof Fight

• The old rule: if your name is on the roll, you are presumed a voter
• Under routine summary revisions, a name already on the roll stays unless someone objects to it with a reason.

• The SIR turned this around. Existing electors had to fill fresh forms and show documents again, or risk being left out.

• The Supreme Court pushed back on this shift

• During the Bihar hearings, the Court said the ECI cannot put the burden of proving citizenship on voters. It called the dispute "largely a trust deficit issue" [11].
• The ECI first refused to accept Aadhaar (the 12-digit ID number issued by UIDAI). The Court then ordered it to accept Aadhaar as one of the documents for claims [10].

• Why this matters: poor rural voters often have Aadhaar or a ration card, but not a birth certificate or passport [10].

• Legal (valid in law) is not the same as fair in process

• In May 2026 the Court upheld the SIR because it has a "direct nexus" (a close link) with free and fair elections [3].
• But the Court had also warned that it would strike down the exercise if the ECI's methodology (the method it follows on the ground) was found illegal [13].
• So the fight has moved from "can the ECI do an SIR?" to "how may it do one?" The 26 September fixes [7] belong to this second question.

10. The Case for the SIR — and Where It Falls Short

• The strongest argument for the SIR
• India's rolls really do carry dead and duplicate names. Bihar alone found about 22 lakh dead electors and about 7 lakh people enrolled in more than one place [9].
• A bloated roll allows impersonation (someone voting in another person's name). It also damages trust in the result.

• The Supreme Court accepted that cleaning the rolls serves free and fair elections [3]. The ECI argued in Court that no law bars such a revision [16].

• What this argument gets right

• Removing dead and duplicate names is a real duty under Article 324 (the ECI's power to supervise elections, including preparing the rolls). The ECI should not be blamed for doing it.

• Where it falls short

• Dead and duplicate names are the smaller part of the deletions. The largest group is "shifted/absent" [9], and that category is the easiest to get wrong about a living, eligible citizen.
• "Illegal foreign immigrants" is one of the ECI's stated reasons for the SIR [1]. But the sources behind this note give no count of foreigners actually found. The strongest political reason for the SIR is also the least supported by published data.
• The costs of the two possible mistakes are not equal:
  • A wrongly kept dead name can be removed in the next revision.
  • A wrongly removed living voter loses the vote in that election, and a lost vote cannot be recovered afterwards.

11. What the 26 September Fixes Do Not Reach

• The fixes come after most of the work is done
• The SIR is already complete in 20 States/UTs [7]. Stopping physical hearings helps people still in the process, not those already removed.
• People who were removed earlier must now apply again on Form 6 to the ERO (Electoral Registration Officer, the official who maintains a constituency's roll) [7].

• The burden of acting still falls on the excluded voter. Nothing restores that voter automatically.

• The extra declaration is limited, not removed

• The Form 6 declaration is still required during the current SIR [7]. The first-time voters the ECI wants to include still face it at exactly this time.

• The special enrolment drive has no published target

• The ECI announced the drive "immediately" [7]. The note's sources give no deadline, no per-State target and no plan to focus on high-deletion districts.

• Without these, nobody can check whether the drive reaches the migrant-heavy northern States where deletions are highest [12].

• The ECI's internal dispute is hidden, not settled

• The measures followed reports of a rift among the Commissioners [7]. They were announced as having full-commission approval, with no reasons and no record of what was disputed.
• During the same weeks, there was a political row over removing the CEC [5]. Announcing unity without explaining the decision may not rebuild the trust the Supreme Court said was missing [11].

12. What the ECI and Parliament Should Do Next

• ECI: publish every deletion with its reason, booth by booth
• In Bihar, the Supreme Court ordered the ECI to publish the list of deleted voters. The ECI then filed an affidavit saying it had done so [14][15].

• This should be the standard rule in every SIR State, including the 20 already finished. Then a voter, a party agent or a journalist can check a name and challenge a wrong "shifted" tag.

• ECI: accept widely held documents as standard in every State

• The Court had to order Aadhaar's acceptance in Bihar [10]. Writing the full list of accepted documents, including Aadhaar, into the national SIR guidelines would stop the same case being fought again in each State.

• ECI: send the enrolment drive where deletions were highest

• Migration explains about 70% of exclusions, and northern States are hit hardest [12].

• Doorstep Form 6 camps in those districts, timed for festival seasons when migrants return home, would match the drive to the problem.

• Parliament / Law Ministry: write the SIR procedure into the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960

• Today, hearings, declarations and documents change through ECI press notes, such as the 26 September measures [7].
• Fixed rules for notice, hearing and appeal before any deletion would make the process harder to change quietly and easier for courts to review.
• The ECI's own long-pending reform proposals show that it has asked Parliament for changes to election law before [8].

13. Anchors for Answers

• Data: About 65 lakh names were dropped from Bihar's draft roll: 22.34 lakh dead, 36.28 lakh shifted/absent, 7.01 lakh duplicate [9]
• Data: About 134 million electors (about 14%) were left out of draft rolls across 30 States/UTs (June 2025–Aug 2026). Migration or absence explains about 70% [12]
• Data: SIR Phase-II covered about 51 crore electors in 9 States and 3 UTs [1]
• Report/Committee: ECI, Proposed Electoral Reforms (tabled via PRS, 2008) [8]
• Law/Case: Art. 324, Art. 326, and S.21(3) of the RP Act, 1950. SC (May 2026): the SIR has a "direct nexus" with free and fair elections [3]. SC (Bihar, 2025): the ECI must accept Aadhaar for claims [10] and publish the list of deleted voters [14]. The Court warned it would strike down the SIR if the methodology was illegal [13]
• Law/Case: Anoop Baranwal v. Union of India (2023), on the independence of ECI appointments

14. Mains Relevance

• GS-II: Salient features of the RP Act; appointment to various constitutional posts, and the powers, functions and responsibilities of constitutional bodies (ECI).
• GS-II: Parliament and State legislatures; issues of transparency and accountability.
• GS-IV (supplementary): Institutional integrity and probity in public bodies.
• Possible question stems: 1. The Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls seeks to balance electoral integrity with inclusion. Critically examine. (250 words) 2. Discuss the constitutional and statutory basis of the ECI's power to revise electoral rolls. How far do recent course corrections reflect the need for procedural fairness? (150 words) 3. Collegial functioning within the Election Commission is essential to its credibility. Comment in the light of recent developments. (150 words)

15. Related Topics to Study Next

• Article 326 and universal adult franchise: this is the right that roll revisions must protect.
• CEC and Other Election Commissioners (Appointment, Conditions of Service and Term of Office) Act, 2023: covers appointment and removal, which links to the Gyanesh Kumar row [5].
• Anoop Baranwal v. Union of India (2023): the Supreme Court judgement on the ECI appointment process.
• Summary revision vs. intensive revision under the RP Act, 1950: needed to understand the revision types.
• Aadhaar–voter ID linkage (Election Laws (Amendment) Act, 2021): the earlier debate on cleaning the rolls.
• Delimitation: a parallel, constituency-level electoral exercise that is also in the news.
• Citizenship Act, 1955 / NRC: relevant to the concern about illegal immigrants in the rolls [1].
• ECI's proposed electoral reforms: the long-pending reform agenda [8].

16. Common Errors / Trap Areas

• RP Act 1950 vs RP Act 1951: the 1950 Act deals with electoral rolls and delimitation-related matters. The 1951 Act deals with the conduct of elections, qualifications and disputes. The SIR comes under the 1950 Act, S.21 [2].
• Form 6 is for new registration. It is not for deletion or correction; those use other forms, such as Form 7 and Form 8. (General knowledge.)
• ERO vs DEO vs CEO: inclusion claims go to the ERO [7], not the District Election Officer or the State Chief Electoral Officer.
• The Form 6 declaration is not permanent. It applies only for the current SIR period [7].
• Phase-II list: Assam is not among the 9 Phase-II States. Puducherry, Lakshadweep and A&N are the UTs [1].