Election Commission Defends Electoral Roll Revision as Constitutional Citizenship Check

The Election Commission’s ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls is fundamentally a citizenship verification exercise mandated by the Constitution and electoral laws, Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar said on Friday.

Addressing more than 380 media professionals from states and union territories at the Election Commission of India’s national media conference, Mr. Kumar said the mapping exercise stems directly from Article 326 of the Constitution, which restricts voting rights to Indian citizens aged 18 years or above who are ordinarily residing in a constituency.

“Mapping is related to citizenship,” Mr. Kumar said. “Article 326 lays down three conditions for voting - citizenship, age and ordinary residence. The commission has to ensure that electoral rolls comply with these constitutional requirements.”

He rejected allegations that the SIR was intended to delete eligible voters, saying the exercise only aims to remove names of electors who are absent, shifted, dead, duplicated, or have permanently migrated abroad. “The objective is to remove only ASDTF - Absent, Shifted, Dead, Duplicate and Transferred/Foreign electors. Everyone else remains on the rolls,” he said.

Explaining the process, Mr. Kumar said electors whose names appeared in the electoral rolls of 2002, 2003 or 2004 generally would not have to submit fresh documents, as their inclusion establishes continuity. For those born after July 1, 1987, the names of parents in earlier electoral rolls could help establish eligibility under the Citizenship Act, 1955, thereby reducing the need for additional documentation.

Describing elections in India as rule-bound exercises, the CEC said every stage of the electoral process is governed by the Constitution, the Representation of the People Acts, 1950 and 1951, and instructions issued by the Election Commission. “Nothing goes beyond the Constitution, electoral laws and the commission’s instructions,” he said, calling it the guiding principle for every election official.

Mr. Kumar described India’s electoral roll of nearly 95 crore electors as a “living document” that changes continuously, with nearly 8% of entries updated annually through additions, deletions and corrections. More than 12 lakh Booth Level Officers (BLOs) and over 15 lakh Booth Level Agents (BLAs) appointed by recognised political parties participate in preparing and verifying the rolls, making it a system of “concurrent audit”, he said.