The ECI’s unfinished lessons

Why in the News

The Election Commission of India’s (ECI) Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls has brought mass deletions, suspect deletion requests and questions over polling records. India’s first roll holds a lesson: nearly 28 lakh women were left off it, because they were listed only by their relationship to a man.

What does an accurate electoral roll require?

1. Inclusion as much as removal: An accurate roll drops dead, shifted and duplicate entries and keeps every eligible voter. It is like a class register that strikes off leavers and adds every new admission.
2. The first roll’s lesson: Sukumar Sen, India’s first Chief Election Commissioner (CEC), worked to enrol these women in their own right. By the 1957 elections, about 85% of them had been enrolled.
3. The takeaway: Correcting a wrongful exclusion matters as much as removing a wrong entry, because a remedy that comes too late results in a lost vote.

What has the SIR exposed in Bihar and West Bengal?

1. Bihar’s missing names: About 65 lakh names were missing from the draft roll published in August 2025. The ECI cited deaths, migration and duplicate entries.
2. Court direction: The Supreme Court directed the ECI to publish the excluded voters with reasons, so voters can challenge errors.
3. West Bengal’s backlog: More than 27 lakh names were deleted during adjudication, prompting around 22 lakh appeals.
4. Appeal hurdles: Tribunal judges have flagged problems with the appeals portal and with issuing notices, holding hearings and restoring names.

How should deletion requests be checked?

1. Form 7: Form 7 is the application through which an elector can seek the deletion of a name from the roll.
2. The Aland case: In Aland, Karnataka, 6,018 online applications sought deletions, and the ECI accepted only 24 after verification.
3. Safeguards worked: The ECI rejected the other 5,994 as incorrect. An inquiry followed and a First Information Report (FIR) was registered.
4. Who filed them: A concentrated pattern of requests requires the ECI to establish who submitted them and whether identities or documents were misused.

Why do polling records and appointments shape trust?

1. Maharashtra turnout: Reported turnout in Maharashtra’s last Assembly election rose from 58.22% in the evening to 66.05% in the final count. The ECI called the first figure provisional, but the jump needs explaining.
2. Polling records rule: The government amended Rule 93 of the Conduct of Elections Rules, 1961 after a Punjab and Haryana High Court order to release election records. This raises concerns over access to CCTV footage and webcasting.
3. Selection panel: In Anoop Baranwal v. Union of India (2023), a five-judge Constitution Bench made the Prime Minister, Leader of the Opposition and Chief Justice of India an interim panel to select election commissioners.
4. Executive majority: Parliament later replaced the Chief Justice with a Union Cabinet Minister, so the government now controls two of the three votes.

Challenges

1. Rushed verification: Booth Level Officers (BLOs) face tough targets and tight deadlines, raising the risk of wrongful “shifted” or “dead” markings.
2. Footage destruction: The ECI’s policy of destroying CCTV and webcasting footage after 45 days limits post-election scrutiny.
3. Financial dependence: Unlike the Comptroller and Auditor General’s, the ECI’s budget is not charged on the Consolidated Fund of India, meaning released without Parliament’s annual vote, so it needs executive approval.

Way Forward

1. Traceable deletions: Every deletion request should leave a verifiable record of the applicant, the supporting evidence and the final decision.
2. Time-bound appeals: Decide appeals and restore wrongly deleted names before the roll is frozen for polling.
3. Examinable records: Keep polling records open to independent examination for a fixed period.
4. Charged expenditure: Make ECI expenses charged on the Consolidated Fund, as the Law Commission’s 255th Report recommended.

Conclusion

The SIR shows the ECI can remove names at scale, but its credibility now rests on proving each removal and reversing wrongful ones before a vote is lost. The marker to watch is whether it publishes traceable deletion records and clears pending appeals before the next roll freeze.

About the Special Intensive Revision (SIR)

1. How it differs: Unlike the routine annual Summary Revision, an SIR is a time-bound house-to-house check, with BLOs verifying every entry.
2. Constitutional basis: Article 324 gives the ECI “superintendence, direction and control” over the preparation of electoral rolls.
3. Statutory basis: Section 21 of the Representation of the People Act, 1950 lets the ECI order a special revision at any time, for reasons recorded in writing.
4. History: The first intensive revisions ran from 1952 to 1956, building India’s first voter list.

Matching Previous Year Question

“[2026, GS2, 10 marks] Is the right to vote a fundamental right? Discuss the position of the Election Commission of India while undertaking the revision of electoral rolls. Can it also examine the question of citizenship of voters?”