The Special Intensive Revision Verdict: How Far Does the Election Commission's Power Over Electoral Rolls Run?

Article summary

A Supreme Court bench led by Chief Justice Surya Kant has dismissed petitions challenging the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Tamil Nadu, holding that the questions raised were already settled by the Court's earlier verdict on the analogous Bihar SIR petitions. The ruling reaffirms the Election Commission of India's authority to order a house-to-house intensive revision of the electoral roll — a power that flows from Article 324 of the Constitution read with the Representation of the People Act, 1950 and the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960. The petitioners had argued that an intensive revision, by requiring fresh documentary proof from existing electors, risks the wrongful deletion of genuine voters and effectively shifts the burden of proving eligibility onto the citizen. The Court, while upholding the EC's power, has in the Bihar line of cases directed that the process be conducted transparently, with wide publicity, acceptance of common identity documents, and a robust claims-and-objections and appeals mechanism. For UPSC aspirants, the case is a compact study of the constitutional status of the Election Commission, the distinction between a summary and an intensive revision of rolls, and the delicate balance between electoral purity and universal adult franchise.