What is the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls in India?

The Special Intensive Revision (SIR) is a house-to-house re-enumeration of India's electoral rolls by the Election Commission, in which electors fill in enumeration forms and the roll is rebuilt rather than incrementally edited. The Commission began it in Bihar in June 2025, the state's first intensive revision since 2003, and extended it nationwide in phases. In a press note of 26 September 2026 the Commission said the exercise was complete in 20 states and Union Territories, with final rolls still to be published in 12 Phase III states. The SIR is contested: opposition parties and petitioners challenged the documentation rules and the scale of draft-roll exclusions, while the Commission holds that it has made the rolls more accurate; the Supreme Court upheld the Bihar exercise in May 2026. IndiaStand's maintained brief on the SIR records each stage and position.

When was Election Commission of India established?

Election Commission of India was established 25 January 1950.

What does Election Commission of India do?

Its remit covers Superintendence, direction and control of elections (Article 324), Preparation and revision of the electoral rolls, Conduct of elections to Parliament and the State Legislatures, Conduct of elections to the offices of President and Vice-President, Enforcement of the Model Code of Conduct.

What is the latest on Election Commission of India?

As of 2026-10-07: Recall of the split verdict sought before the Chief Justice. Counsel for petitioners mentioned an application to recall the 23 September split verdict, and said a separate curative petition had also been filed; the Chief Justice said the Court would examine it.

Institution

Election Commission of India

The Election Commission of India is the permanent constitutional body that runs the country's elections. Under Article 324 of the Constitution it holds the superintendence, direction and control of the electoral rolls and of elections to Parliament, the State Legislatures, and the offices of the President and Vice-President. A three-member commission — a Chief Election Commissioner and two Election Commissioners with equal powers — it also enforces the Model Code of Conduct once polls are called. It is the referee of Indian democracy, and its independence is the institution's central claim.

Updated 2026-10-07

Established: 25 January 1950
Constitutional basis: Article 324
Composition: Chief Election Commissioner + 2 Election Commissioners
Appointments: Selection Committee under the 2023 Act (validity pending before the Supreme Court)
Chief Election Commissioner (current): Gyanesh Kumar, since February 2025
Election Commissioners (current): Sukhbir Singh Sandhu (since March 2024); Vivek Joshi (since February 2025)

Coverage since 195033 recorded events ·73% from official & primary sources

Role

The Election Commission of India is the independent constitutional authority that conducts India’s elections. Article 324 vests in it the “superintendence, direction and control” of the preparation of the electoral rolls and of all elections to Parliament, the State Legislatures, and the offices of the President and Vice-President. Its statutory machinery comes from the Representation of the People Acts of 1950 and 1951. Once an election is announced, the Commission also enforces the Model Code of Conduct, the set of restraints on governments and parties during the campaign.

Composition and appointment

The Commission is a three-member body: a Chief Election Commissioner and two Election Commissioners, all with equal powers, deciding by majority. How its members are chosen changed twice in quick succession. In Anoop Baranwal (March 2023) the Supreme Court ruled that appointments could not rest with the executive alone and, as an interim measure, put the appointment in the hands of a panel of the Prime Minister, the Leader of Opposition and the Chief Justice. Parliament then enacted the 2023 Appointment Act, which set a Selection Committee of the Prime Minister, a Cabinet Minister nominated by the Prime Minister, and the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha — replacing the Chief Justice on the panel. The composition of that committee is the live fault line in debates over the Commission’s independence, and the Act’s validity is still undecided. On 23 September 2026 a two-judge bench split on the Union’s request to send the challenge to a larger bench — Justice Dipankar Datta declined it and questioned whether the committee gives the executive an effective veto; Justice Satish Chandra Sharma held the question needed a Constitution Bench under Article 145(3) — and both placed the matter before the Chief Justice to constitute a bench of appropriate strength (ANI). On 7 October an application to recall that verdict was mentioned before the Chief Justice, alongside a separately filed curative petition (PTI via The Federal).

What it is doing now

As of 7 October 2026 the Commission’s defining exercise is still the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls — a house-to-house re-enumeration that began in Bihar in June 2025 and has since been extended nationwide. The Commission’s press note of 26 September 2026 says SIR is complete in 20 states and UTs and that the final elector count awaits final rolls in the remaining 12 Phase III states (PIB).

The dispute over it has turned inward, onto the Commission itself. The Indian Express reported on 23 September that two of the three Commissioners had objected on record at least 14 times to SIR decisions taken, they said, without their knowledge; the Commission’s position is that every SIR order carried the unanimous approval of the full Commission. The report was followed by protests demanding the Chief Election Commissioner’s resignation, a Supreme Court notice on a petition over how the Commission takes decisions, and a dispute over a declaration added to Form 6 that the Commission says the Court upheld and the Chief Justice said in court the Court had not approved. IndiaStand maintains a dedicated topic brief on all of it: the Special Intensive Revision of India’s electoral rolls.

Desk maintained by IndiaStand editorial cycles. Officeholders are transient; this dossier tracks the institution.

Timeline since 1947

1950-01-25 reference

Election Commission of India established

Constituted under Article 324, a day before the Constitution came into force. The date is now observed as National Voters' Day.

source 1
1951 reference

First general election machinery

The Representation of the People Acts, 1950 and 1951 gave the Commission its statutory framework for rolls and the conduct of elections; India's first general election followed in 1951–52.
1989 reference

Became a multi-member body

Two Election Commissioners were added alongside the Chief Election Commissioner; after a reversion, the three-member structure was made permanent in 1993 and upheld by the Supreme Court in 1995 (T.N. Seshan).
2011 official

IIIDEM stood up as the Commission's training and capacity-building arm

The India International Institute of Democracy and Election Management was created as the ECI's academic and training wing at Dwarka. Its own site records 1,700+ national and international programmes, over 1 lakh participants and a training footprint across 141 countries.

source 1
2013-07-10 reference

Section 8(4) of the Representation of the People Act struck down (Lily Thomas)

The Supreme Court held that Section 8(4), which gave convicted legislators three months to appeal before losing their seat, was unconstitutional. Disqualification on conviction carrying a minimum two-year sentence now takes effect immediately, which the Commission administers through the RPA 1951.

source 1 source 2
2013-09 reference

VVPAT first used in an Indian election, at Noksen in Nagaland

The voter-verified paper audit trail was used for the first time in the Noksen assembly constituency by-election, opening the paper-trail layer that the Commission has since built over the whole EVM system.

source 1
2013-09-27 reference

Supreme Court directs a NOTA button on every EVM (PUCL)

Deciding a PIL by the People's Union for Civil Liberties that supported the Commission's own request, the Court ordered the ECI to provide a none-of-the-above option on voting machines. The Commission treats NOTA votes as invalid votes that do not alter the result.

source 1
2013-11 reference

First large-scale VVPAT deployment, in Mizoram

The paper trail was deployed in 10 of Mizoram's 40 assembly seats — the first use at scale rather than in a single constituency.

source 1
2014 reference

NOTA and VVPAT enter a general election

NOTA appeared nationwide at its first general election and drew about 1.1% of votes, over 60 lakh ballots; VVPAT ran as a pilot in 8 of 543 parliamentary constituencies, including Lucknow, Gandhinagar, Bangalore South, Chennai Central, Jadavpur, Raipur and Patna Sahib.

source 1 source 2
2017-02 reference

Goa becomes the first state polled entirely on VVPAT

The Goa assembly election was the first in which an entire state voted with the paper trail attached to every machine, the staging point for national rollout.

source 1
2019 reference

VVPAT extended to all 543 parliamentary constituencies

The Commission ran the 2019 general election with the paper trail at every polling station across all 543 constituencies, for an electorate of 91.19 crore and a turnout of 67.4%.

source 1 source 2
2021-12 reference

Election Laws (Amendment) Act allows Aadhaar linkage and four qualifying dates

Passed by the Lok Sabha on 20 December and the Rajya Sabha on 21 December 2021, it lets electoral registration officers seek Aadhaar for identity verification while barring deletion or refusal of enrolment for want of it, and replaces the single 1 January qualifying date with four — 1 January, 1 April, 1 July and 1 October.

source 1
2023-03-02 reference

Supreme Court reforms appointments (Anoop Baranwal)

A Constitution Bench held that appointments must not rest with the executive alone, and directed — until Parliament legislated — a panel of the PM, the Leader of Opposition (Lok Sabha) and the Chief Justice of India.

source 1
2023-12 official

New appointments law enacted

The CEC and Other Election Commissioners (Appointment, Conditions of Service and Term of Office) Act, 2023 set a Selection Committee of the PM, a PM-nominated Cabinet Minister and the Leader of Opposition — replacing the Chief Justice on the panel.

source 1
2024-02-15 reference

Electoral Bond Scheme struck down; disclosure routed through the Commission

A Constitution Bench held the 2018 scheme violated the voters' right to information under Article 19(1)(a), stopped bond sales immediately, and directed the State Bank of India to hand the Commission details of all bonds bought from 12 April 2019 onward for publication on its website within a week.

source 1
2024-03 reference

Commission publishes the electoral bond data

The ECI put the SBI-supplied purchaser and recipient records on its website by 13 March 2024, the deadline the Supreme Court set — the first public disclosure of bond-route political funding.

source 1
2024-06-04 reference

Largest election yet: 97.8 crore electors on the roll, 64.2 crore votes cast

The Commission ran the 2024 general election over seven phases from 19 April to 1 June, counting on 4 June: 977,965,560 registered electors, about 64.2 crore voters and 66.1% turnout, across more than a million polling stations using roughly 55 lakh EVMs.

source 1
2025-06-24 official

Bihar Special Intensive Revision ordered

The Commission ordered a house-to-house Special Intensive Revision of Bihar's electoral roll ahead of the state election — the first such intensive revision in the state since 2003.

source 1
2025-09-30 reference

Bihar final roll published

Around 47 lakh electors (~6%) were removed as deceased, shifted, duplicate or otherwise ineligible, in an exercise the Commission framed around roll accuracy and detecting non-citizens.

source 1
2026-03 gdelt

Over 25 lakh personnel deployed for five assembly polls

For the April 2026 elections in Assam, Kerala, Puducherry, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal and bye-elections across 832 assembly constituencies in all, the Commission reported deploying over 25 lakh officials — about 15 lakh polling personnel, 8.5 lakh security personnel, 40,000 counting staff and 1,111 central observers.

source 1
2026-04 reference

2026 assembly elections fought on SIR-revised rolls

Assam, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Kerala and Puducherry voted in April 2026 with results on 4 May — the first general test of rolls produced by Phase II of the revision, making the accuracy dispute retrospective as well as prospective.

source 1
2026-05-01 gdelt

Three UN special rapporteurs question the revision

A joint communication from the mandate-holders on minority issues, freedom of expression, and freedom of religion or belief asked the government about alleged targeting of Bengali and Muslim electors and about automated deletions, citing 52 million removals. Reported 13 July 2026; the OHCHR reference was not obtained and no government or ECI response is on the record.

source 1
2026-05-14 reference

SIR Phase III announced

The Commission extended the Special Intensive Revision to a further 16 states and 3 Union Territories, after a Phase II covering 9 states and 3 UTs — taking the drive nationwide.

source 1
2026-05-27 reference

Supreme Court upholds the Bihar SIR

The Court held the revision consistent with the Representation of the People Act and not disproportionate, after earlier directing the Commission to accept Aadhaar and voter-ID as identity documents and to publish booth-level lists of deletions.

source 1
2026-05-31 official

Phase III enumeration begins in four states

The Commission announced that the enumeration phase had started for Odisha, Mizoram, Sikkim and Manipur, confirming a staggered rather than simultaneous rollout across the 19 states and UTs.

source 1
2026-06 gdelt

SIR at one year: deletions reported near 6 crore

Wire copy carried by The Hindu put names deleted across the exercise at nearly 6 crore. The Commission publishes per-phase figures rather than a running national total, so the number is a cross-phase aggregation by the wire and not an ECI statement.

source 1
2026-06-30 gdelt

Opposition parties petition the Chief Justice

Twenty-three opposition parties and an Independent MP wrote to the Chief Justice of India alleging partisanship in the roll revision and seeking relief; the Commission rejected the charge.

source 1
2026-09-23 gdelt

Report: two Election Commissioners objected on record at least 14 times

The Indian Express reported that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had formally objected at least 14 times in 10 months to SIR-related decisions and orders they said were issued without their knowledge — on new-voter registration and the Form 6 declaration, deletions and restorations, and access to the roll database. The Commission said its decisions were unanimous and that differing views are part of deliberation.

source 1 source 2
2026-09-23 gdelt

Supreme Court splits on whether the 2023 appointments law needs a Constitution Bench

On the Union's request to refer challenges to the 2023 Act to a larger bench, Justice Dipankar Datta declined and Justice Satish Chandra Sharma favoured reference under Article 145(3). Both agreed to place the matter before the Chief Justice to constitute a bench of appropriate strength. The validity of the Act itself remains undecided.

source 1
2026-09-26 official

Full Commission meeting issues procedural and SIR decisions

A press note approved by all three members said SIR orders had been issued with unanimous approval, that SIR was complete in 20 states and UTs, that a committee with an IIT/IIIT expert would review ECINET, that agendas and minutes would be issued for every Commission meeting, and that the Form 6 declaration for SIR had been 'upheld' by the Supreme Court while non-SIR periods would use the forms under the 1960 Rules. It ordered a special enrolment drive for electors left out.

source 1
2026-10-02 gdelt

Protests demanding the Chief Election Commissioner's resignation spread

Protests that began on 25 September — led by opposition parties, student groups and the youth-led Cockroach Janta Party — continued in New Delhi and Mumbai from 2 October; police detained protesters in Delhi, and on 6 October briefly detained opposition MPs marching from Parliament to the Commission. The Commission and the BJP deny the allegations of partisan roll revision.

source 1 source 2
2026-10-05 gdelt

Supreme Court issues notice on PIL over the CEC's decision-making; declines interim relief

A bench of the Chief Justice and Justices Bagchi and Mohana sought responses from the Union and the Commission on a plea alleging decisions taken without the other two Commissioners' concurrence, declined to suspend the CEC, and said orally that it had not approved any modified Form 6.

source 1 source 2
2026-10-07 gdelt

Recall of the split verdict sought before the Chief Justice

Counsel for petitioners mentioned an application to recall the 23 September split verdict, and said a separate curative petition had also been filed; the Chief Justice said the Court would examine it.

source 1

Frequently asked

What is the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls in India?: The Special Intensive Revision (SIR) is a house-to-house re-enumeration of India's electoral rolls by the Election Commission, in which electors fill in enumeration forms and the roll is rebuilt rather than incrementally edited. The Commission began it in Bihar in June 2025, the state's first intensive revision since 2003, and extended it nationwide in phases. In a press note of 26 September 2026 the Commission said the exercise was complete in 20 states and Union Territories, with final rolls still to be published in 12 Phase III states. The SIR is contested: opposition parties and petitioners challenged the documentation rules and the scale of draft-roll exclusions, while the Commission holds that it has made the rolls more accurate; the Supreme Court upheld the Bihar exercise in May 2026. IndiaStand's maintained brief on the SIR records each stage and position. official · as of 2026-09-26 · source 1 source 2
What is Election Commission of India?: The Election Commission of India is the permanent constitutional body that runs the country's elections. Under Article 324 of the Constitution it holds the superintendence, direction and control of the electoral rolls and of elections to Parliament, the State Legislatures, and the offices of the President and Vice-President. A three-member commission — a Chief Election Commissioner and two Election Commissioners with equal powers — it also enforces the Model Code of Conduct once polls are called. It is the referee of Indian democracy, and its independence is the institution's central claim.
When was Election Commission of India established?: Election Commission of India was established 25 January 1950.
What does Election Commission of India do?: Its remit covers Superintendence, direction and control of elections (Article 324), Preparation and revision of the electoral rolls, Conduct of elections to Parliament and the State Legislatures, Conduct of elections to the offices of President and Vice-President, Enforcement of the Model Code of Conduct.
What is the latest on Election Commission of India?: As of 2026-10-07: Recall of the split verdict sought before the Chief Justice. Counsel for petitioners mentioned an application to recall the 23 September split verdict, and said a separate curative petition had also been filed; the Chief Justice said the Court would examine it.

Official sources

The government's own pages for this institution — go straight to the primary.

Election Commission of India site

Canonical home; carries current press releases, commission composition and the Electors/Political Parties/Election Management sections.

www.eci.gov.in/
Voter's Services Portal site

Citizen service portal: Forms 6/6A/7/8, electoral roll download, e-EPIC, SIR enumeration forms, application tracking.

voters.eci.gov.in/
IIIDEM — India International Institute of Democracy & Election Management department

ECI's training, academic and resource arm (est. 2011, Dwarka); domestic and international election-management training.

iiidem.eci.gov.in/
Index Card & Statistical Reports data

Explains the ENCORE index-card pipeline and the generation of constituency-level statistical reports; links to encore.eci.gov.in.

www.eci.gov.in/index-card-statistical-reporting
ECI Publications reports

PDF archive of atlases, narrative reports, year-in-review volumes and election-specific publications.

www.eci.gov.in/eci-publication
Press Releases Archive press

Searchable archive of 2,151+ press releases from 2004 onward, filterable by category (MCC, EVM, electoral roll, etc.) and year.

www.eci.gov.in/issue-details-page/press-releases
Representation of the People Act, 1951 legislation

India Code entry for the principal Act governing conduct of elections, disqualifications, corrupt practices and election disputes.

www.indiacode.nic.in/handle/123456789/2096
Model Code of Conduct legislation

Full text of the MCC for political parties and candidates, plus the Commission's enforcement instructions.

www.eci.gov.in/mcc

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