Supreme Court Upholds Special Intensive Revision of Electoral Rolls

On 27 May 2026, the Supreme Court upheld the constitutional validity of the Election Commission of India’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls, describing it as “an advancement towards free and fair elections”. The ruling came in the case Association for Democratic Reforms vs Election Commission of India, after the SIR had already been completed in Bihar and rolled out in twelve other states and Union Territories in its second phase.

The Election Commission’s SIR is a door-to-door revision exercise carried out under the Representation of the People Act, 1950 and the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960. The completed phases led to a net reduction in the rolls by more than 10 per cent, with approximately 6.5 crore names being deleted. In several states, the gender ratio in the revised rolls also fell, an issue the petitioners had highlighted as evidence of arbitrary or skewed deletions.

While upholding the SIR, the court made an important distinction. It said the SIR was limited to electoral eligibility and that deletion from the voters’ list “does not amount to a declaration that the individual is not a citizen of India”. At the same time, the court directed that those excluded from the list as suspected non-citizens must be referred by the Election Commission within four weeks to the Competent Authority under the Citizenship Act, 1955, for adjudication of their citizenship before the next general, assembly or local body elections, whichever is earlier. Critics have noted that this effectively places the burden of proving citizenship on deleted individuals.

For exam aspirants, the verdict touches several themes: Articles 324–326 on the Election Commission and the right to vote, the working of the Representation of the People Acts of 1950 and 1951, the doctrine of separation of powers between the EC and the judiciary, and the procedural safeguards under the Citizenship Act, 1955 and Foreigners Tribunals.