The Election Commission of India (ECI) has told the Supreme Court (SC) that any direction to conduct Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls at regular intervals throughout the country would “encroach” upon the exclusive jurisdiction of the poll panel.
In a counter-affidavit filed in the top court, the ECI said it has the “complete discretion” over the policy of revision to the exclusion of any other authority. It said through its July 5, 2025, letter addressed to all chief electoral officers (CEOs) of States and Union Territories, except Bihar, the commission has directed the initiation of immediate pre-revision activities for SIR of electoral rolls with reference to January 1, 2026, as the qualifying date.
The affidavit said the ECII is vested with constitutional as well as statutory powers to oversee the preparation and revision of electoral rolls.
“Any direction to conduct a ‘SIR’ at regular intervals throughout the country would encroach upon the exclusive jurisdiction of the ECII,” it said. The affidavit was filed on a plea by advocate Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay, who has sought a direction to the ECI to conduct SIR of electoral rolls at regular intervals throughout India, particularly before elections, to ensure that only Indian citizens decide the polity and policy of the country. On September 8, the top court had directed that the Aadhaar card “must” be included as an identity proof of voters in the SIR exercise of electoral rolls in Bihar and asked the ECI to implement the direction by September 9.
In its counter affidavit, the poll panel said under Article 324 of the Constitution, the superintendence, direction and control of the preparation of electoral rolls for, and the conduct of, all elections to parliament and to the legislature of every State are vested in the ECI.
“The said constitutional provision forms the bedrock of the Election Comm-ission’s plenary authority in all matters relating to the preparation of electoral rolls and conduct of elections,” it said.
It said Article 324 has been consistently inte-rpreted by the top court to confer plenary powers upon the ECI in relation to the preparation of the electoral roll and conduct of free and fair elections, including in matters where the statutory framework may be silent or insufficient. The affidavit said the enabling provisions under the Representation of the People Act, 1950, and the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960, provide ECI powers to decide whether an intensive or summary revision is appropriate, based on prevailing circumstances.
Referring to Section 21 of the Representation of the People Act, 1950, the ECI said it provides for the preparation and revision of the electoral roll and vests a discretion in the poll panel as regards the timing of the revisional exercise.
“On a bare perusal of Section 21, it is apparent that the obligation to conduct a revision of the electoral roll is not couched within a timeline, but is a general obligation which is to be met before each general or legislative assembly election, or before each bye-election to fill a casual vacancy,” it said.
The affidavit said Rule 25 of the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960, deals with revision of rolls.
“On a bare perusal of Rule 25, it is further apparent that the decision to conduct a summary or an intensive revision of the electoral roll is left to the discretion of the ECII,” it said, while seeking dismissal of the plea.
