The Election Commission of India (EC) has recently informed the Supreme Court that the EC has the full discretion on matters concerning electoral roll revisions leaving no other authority including the apex one to interfere.
In affidavits that were submitted this week, the EC highlighted its constitutional authority in Article 324 and affirmed that it had plenary powers in superintendence, direction and control of elections and management of electoral rolls. The reaction of the EC was in response to Public Interest Litigation (PIL) by advocate Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay, who petitioned the courts to have Special Intensive Revisions (SIR) of the electoral rolls every now and then, particularly before elections, in order to exclude all others except Indian citizens in the voting exercise.
The poll panel cited that any Supreme Court instruction to do periodic SIR exercises would amount to trespass into its exclusive jurisdiction and constitutional independence. The Commission has referred to the fact that in Section 21 of the Representation of the People Act, 1950 and Rule 25 of the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960 (which provide the EC with discretion to determine the nature and timing of revisions, based on current conditions) there is no fixed time interval to follow.
The EC told the court that It already had instructed Chief Electoral Officers of all states and Union Territories (except Bihar) to start pre-revision work on a nationwide Special Intensive Revision, with January 1, 2026 as the qualifying date to be an eligible voter. Recently, the Commission also held state-level CEO conferences in order to plan the SIR process.
The news emphasizes the EC desire to protect its institutional independence against judicial encroachment in the operations of the EC. The ultimate ruling of the Supreme Court on the PIL will impact on the future processes of purging the electoral registers, especially in regions where illegal migration is a problem or other issues of voter authenticity.
This is the place where constitutional separation of powers is reinforced and the EC plays a significant role in maintaining purity and integrity of the electoral process in India.
