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EYE ON INDIA NOVEMBER 06, 2026 | The Indian Eye 6

Why the SIR Row

Refuses to Die: A Battle Over

India’s Electoral Trust

At stake is public confidence in the institution responsible for ensuring that every eligible Indian can vote

OUR BUREAU
New Delhi
he controversy over the Spe-
cial Intensive Revision (SIR)
Tof electoral rolls refuses to die
because neither the Election Com-
mission of India (ECI) nor the polit-
ical establishment has succeeded in
putting the central question to rest:
can voters trust the process through
which the country’s electoral rolls are
being revised?
What began as an exercise to
update voter lists has turned into a
confrontation over institutional ac-
countability, the independence of the
Election Commission and the Oppo-
sition’s ability to challenge the ruling INDIA bloc leaders Anil Bhardwaj (Congress) and others hold a press conference regarding SIR at the Press Club of India, in New Delhi (ANI Photo)
establishment. With the INDIA bloc
preparing a major rally at Delhi’s vote theft will remain,” he said. immediate interests of political par- for their disposal. In Delhi, the final
Ramlila Maidan on November 1, the The controversy has also ex- ties, but they do little to resolve the electoral roll is scheduled for publi-
dispute is acquiring a wider political posed the widening gulf between the substantive questions surrounding cation on December 22, while the
significance that extends beyond the Opposition and the ECI. Congress electoral administration. An Opposi- final lists in the other five states and
technicalities of electoral registration. leaders have accused Chief Election tion party’s electoral defeats do not Union Territories are scheduled for
The immediate problem is a Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar of automatically invalidate its concerns November 30.
credibility deficit. Political activist acting under the direction of Prime about the voter-registration process. The political stakes are particu-
Yogendra Yadav has accused the Minister Narendra Modi and Home Equally, raising allegations of vote larly high because the dispute comes
ECI of submitting a “bundle of lies” Minister Amit Shah. The INDIA theft does not establish that manip- amid a broader struggle over insti-
before the Supreme Court and de- bloc is demanding his resignation, ulation has occurred. Both claims tutional credibility. When one side
manded answers to seven questions repeal of the 2023 law governing the must be judged against verifiable ev- accuses the Election Commission of
concerning the authority behind the appointment of election commis- idence. partisan conduct and the other dis-
SIR decision, changes to electoral sioners and withdrawal of the SIR That is precisely why the ECI’s misses every objection as an attempt
forms, the powers of electoral regis- exercise. handling of the controversy matters. to undermine democracy, the insti-
tration officers, bulk applications and The ruling BJP, meanwhile, has Electoral rolls are not merely bureau- tution risks becoming trapped in the
the criteria used to identify discrep- dismissed the Opposition’s campaign cratic records; they determine who country’s partisan conflict.
ancies in voter records. as politically motivated. BJP MP An- can exercise a constitutional right. The ECI, for its part, must rec-
Yadav has questioned how large urag Thakur has argued that Con- Errors in registration, unexplained ognise that defending the electoral
numbers of applications and appeals gress blames electronic voting ma- deletions or opaque procedures can process requires more than rejecting
in West Bengal could have been pro- chines or the Election Commission have serious consequences for eli- accusations. It requires answering le-
cessed within minutes and sought whenever it loses elections, pointing gible voters, even in the absence of gitimate questions with documentary
clarity on the software and standard to recent results in which the party deliberate wrongdoing. evidence, explaining procedures and
operating procedures used to identi- suffered defeats. “Whether the vot- The Commission’s decision demonstrating that eligible voters
fy discrepancies. He has also raised ing was conducted via EVMs or bal- to extend the SIR timetable in six will not be unfairly excluded.
questions about bulk submissions in- lot papers—the opposition has faced states and Union Territories—Del- The SIR controversy refuses to
volving Forms 7 and 8, which concern defeat everywhere,” Thakur said. hi, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, die because the political argument
deletions and changes to electoral Union Minister Giriraj Singh Haryana, Nagaland and Telanga- has outgrown the administrative ex-
entries. has similarly described the proposed na—offers an opportunity to address ercise. Beneath the competing accu-
“These are seven questions to protest as a “farce”, accusing the concerns through greater scrutiny sations lies a basic democratic princi-
which the Election Commission is Congress of trying to create confu- and public participation. The revised ple: electoral integrity must not only
not providing answers. And until the sion and provoke unrest. schedules extend deadlines for claims be protected but must also be seen to
answers are received, the question of Such arguments may serve the and objections and, in several states, be protected.

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