ECI’s belated u-turn doesn’t undo injustice of mass exclusion

Why in the News

Voters wrongly dropped in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls no longer have to pose as new voters to return; they keep their old voter identity numbers. The Election Commission of India (ECI) has offered this and other reliefs to 4.52 crore excluded voters in seven States, but not where the SIR is complete.

What is the SIR, and how did it push voters off the rolls?

1. What it is: The SIR is a house-to-house re-enumeration of voters. Every voter fills a fresh enumeration form, checked by Booth Level Officers (BLOs). It works like a club making every member re-register.
2. ASDD exclusions: Voters who were not re-enrolled were marked “Absent, Shifted, Dead, Duplicate” (ASDD) and left off the draft rolls, 13.3 crore of them across India.
3. Form 6 as the only route back: Wrongly excluded voters could return only by declaring themselves new voters on Form 6. The fresh Elector Photo Identity Card (EPIC) number they got erased their past enrolment.
4. The takeaway: A clean-up of the rolls made restoration depend on a false declaration, so many eligible voters stayed out.

What pushed the ECI to change course?

1. Supreme Court hearing: On a Delhi SIR petition, the Supreme Court called the Form 6 requirement an “error” and a “structural incongruity”, since it made eligible voters declare themselves new.
2. Alternative forms: The Bench headed by the Chief Justice of India (CJI) allowed the Enumeration Form or Form 8, which corrects or shifts an entry. It called the legality of “Logical Discrepancy” notices an open question.
3. ECI’s first clarification: The ECI first kept Form 6, only promising not to prosecute the false “first-time voter” declaration. Earlier reversals, after media exposure and protests, stayed internal.

What reliefs does the ECI’s letter offer?

1. Seven States covered: The letter covers Delhi, Maharashtra, Haryana, Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand, Telangana and Nagaland.
2. Deadline waiver and address changes: Late enumeration forms are accepted with an explanation. Voters who moved give their new address instead of filing Form 6.
3. Homeless voters: People without homes, including residents of demolished slums, can be enrolled through simple BLO field verification.
4. Correction, not re-enrolment: Rule 21(1) of the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960 lets the Electoral Registration Officer (ERO), the official who maintains the roll, correct names omitted by “inadvertence or error”. Restored voters get their old EPIC numbers back.

Does the reversal redeem the SIR?

1. Admission of error: The reversals show the ECI was “bluffing” for 16 months. The Supreme Court pushed it back towards inclusion.
2. Burden still on the voter: The SIR still makes voters prove they belong on the rolls. This overturns the presumption of citizenship, under which an enrolled voter need not prove eligibility.
3. Lineage-based voting: The SIR ties the vote to lineage, against universal adult franchise, so it should be rolled back.

Challenges

1. Relief limited to seven States: About three-fourths of States finished the SIR without these reliefs. Eg. Bengaluru saw greater exclusion than Delhi.
2. Polls already held: Bihar and West Bengal voted on rolls carrying large-scale deletions.
3. Earlier Form 6 filers: Voters who already re-enrolled through Form 6 have no stated route back to their old EPIC numbers.

Way Forward

1. Uniform relief: Extend the waiver, field verification and Rule 21(1) correction to every State where the SIR ran.
2. Restore, not re-enrol: Convert Form 6 re-enrolments back into voters’ original entries and EPIC numbers.
3. Citizenship kept separate: Refer any doubt on citizenship to the authority under the Citizenship Act, 1955, not to a roll revision.

Conclusion

The ECI has conceded that its remedy for wrongly excluded voters was flawed. Whether restoration is extended everywhere, and whether excluded voters actually return before the next polls, will decide if the reversal undoes the exclusion.

About Electoral Roll Revision in India

1. Legal basis: The ECI controls electoral rolls under Article 324. Section 21 of the Representation of the People Act, 1950 governs their preparation and revision.
2. Summary versus special revision: Routine summary revisions update rolls before elections. Section 21(3) allows a special revision at any time, for reasons recorded in writing.
3. Past intensive revisions: Intensive revisions were held 13 times up to 2004.
4. Notice before deletion: Rule 18 of the 1960 Rules requires notice and a hearing before a name is deleted, a safeguard stressed in Lal Babu Hussein (1995).

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?”