The challenge to the SIR process was never about the EC power, but about the ‘mode, manner, timing and intent’ of the exercise, says Dr. Abhishek Manu Singhvi
NEW DELHI — The Supreme Court’s verdict upholding the constitutional validity of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls triggered sharp reactions from the Opposition, with the Congress and the Communist Party of India-Marxist warning that the ruling could have far-reaching consequences for free and fair elections and democratic rights in India.
Senior Congress leader and Rajya Sabha MP Dr. Abhishek Manu Singhvi said the party’s challenge to the SIR process was never about the Election Commission’s power to undertake electoral roll revisions, but about the “mode, manner, timing and intent” of the exercise, which he argued had led to “substantial injustice” and mass disenfranchisement.
Addressing a press conference on Wednesday, Singhvi said the Supreme Court judgment had “raised as many questions as it has answered.”
“SIR was always a matter of substance, never merely a matter of form. The issue was not whether the Election Commission has the power to conduct SIR, but the way it has been carried out,” he said.
Singhvi pointed to what he described as “serious contradictions” in the judgment. Referring to paragraph 171 of the verdict, he noted that the Supreme Court itself had acknowledged that the Election Commission of India (ECI) has no authority to make a final determination on citizenship, which falls within the jurisdiction of authorities under the Citizenship Act, primarily the Union Home Ministry.
“The irony is that people are first excluded from the electoral rolls on grounds linked to citizenship, while the actual determination of citizenship is deferred to another authority later. This contradiction deserved stronger judicial scrutiny,” Singhvi argued.
The Congress leader also accused the ECI of introducing crucial safeguards only after judicial intervention and public pressure. He cited the inclusion of Aadhaar among accepted documents and the decision to publish details of deleted voters online as examples of “structural corrections” forced upon the Commission after petitions by political parties and civil society groups.
“Had these petitions not been filed, these safeguards would never have come,” he said, adding that the court should have explicitly acknowledged “errors, omissions and gaps” in the Election Commission’s conduct.
Singhvi further criticised the compressed timeline of the SIR exercise, saying crores of voters were subjected to scrutiny within a span of four to five months in states like Bihar and West Bengal.
“Why could the Election Commission not begin the process a year in advance? If SIR is to be conducted, it should not be done in a rushed and telescoped manner that inevitably creates injustice,” he said.
He also questioned the logic of deleting names first and allowing appeals later, saying this “puts the cart before the horse.”
“In many cases, by the time appeals are decided, elections are already over. That amounts to a major deprivation of democratic rights,” Singhvi said.
The Congress MP highlighted another contradiction in the verdict regarding acceptable documents. While the Supreme Court observed that Aadhaar and ration cards are not proof of citizenship, Singhvi said the ECI continued to rely on several other documents of a similar nature — such as birth certificates, caste certificates and school records — for inclusion or exclusion of voters.
“Except for passports, which very few Indians possess, most documents relied upon are themselves not conclusive proof of citizenship,” he said.
Singhvi also cited reports from West Bengal indicating that nearly 70 to 80 per cent of appeals against voter deletions had succeeded, arguing that such a high reversal rate itself raises questions about the credibility of the deletion process.
“If lakhs of deletions are later found invalid, what does that say about the integrity of elections conducted in the meantime?” he asked.
At the same time, Singhvi clarified that the Congress was not opposing SIR “as a concept.”
“We are not saying the Election Commission cannot undertake SIR. We are saying it cannot be done in this arbitrary manner,” he said, adding that the party would continue to raise concerns about procedural safeguards and transparency in future elections.
The CPI(M), meanwhile, launched a blistering attack on the verdict, calling it a “travesty of justice” and a “body blow to democracy.”
In a statement on Thursday, the party said the Supreme Court had granted “constitutional legitimacy to a process that has led to large-scale disenfranchisement, exclusion and intimidation of vulnerable citizens.”
According to the CPI-M, the verdict undermines the principle of universal adult franchise by disproportionately affecting “the poor, migrants, minorities, Dalits, Adivasis, landless citizens and other marginalised sections” who often lack the documents demanded during verification exercises.
“The entire SIR process lacked transparency,” the party said, alleging that legitimate voters were deleted without adequate notice and forced to undergo burdensome verification procedures.
The Left party also criticised the use of “logical discrepancy” software in West Bengal, claiming that algorithm-based scrutiny had placed more than one crore voters in the “doubtful” category and eventually led to the disenfranchisement of around 27 lakh people.
“Unfortunately, the Court has endorsed a regime in which citizenship and voting rights become contingent upon possession of ‘acceptable documents’, even when citizens already possess Aadhaar, voter ID cards and access welfare benefits through other forms of identification,” the statement said.
The CPI-M further alleged that the verdict indirectly opens the door to a “surreptitious introduction” of the National Register of Citizens (NRC).
“The court itself acknowledged that citizenship determination is beyond the powers of the Election Commission. Yet by directing that names deleted through the SIR process be referred for citizenship verification, it effectively compels citizens to prove their nationality,” the party said.
Expressing concern over what it termed the “erosion of public confidence” in the neutrality of the Election Commission, the CPI-M announced that its Central Committee had decided to launch a nationwide campaign to defend the right to vote and press for comprehensive electoral reforms.
“The party will mobilise like-minded democratic forces across the country in this struggle,” the statement added.
The verdict has thus intensified political debate over electoral reforms and voter verification, with Opposition parties warning that the issue could become a major flashpoint ahead of upcoming assembly and general elections.
