Future polls must use pre-SIR voter list, say civil society groups, demanding a full rollback of the SIR

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Image used for representational purposes. File | Photo Credit: Sudhakarara Jain

Senior lawyers and civil society members on Monday (September 28, 2026) demanded that the Election Commission roll back the special intensive revision (SIR) of voter lists across the country and restore every elector removed from the rolls as they existed prior to the SIR.

Addressing the media under the banner of ‘Together We Stand’, the civil society members said that all forthcoming elections must happen on the basis of pre-SIR voter rolls, after a summary revision, if required, as was the practice prior to the SIR.

They also demanded the immediate resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, failing which proceedings to remove him should commence.

“Now the time has come that the Supreme Court should scrap all decisions of the ECI, as we know that they are not the decisions of the full Commission,” senior lawyer Kapil Sibal said, referring to the recent expose showing that the other two Election Commissioners had objected to a number of the poll body’s decisions during the conduct of the SIR.

He added that the pre-SIR voter lists should be used for upcoming elections. “We want to give a message to the country that, if free and fair polls are under threat, then what remains of democracy? The youth and nation must stand together to oppose and make sure that democratic India not only survives but thrives,” he said.

The activists also demanded a public social audit of the electoral roll as provided for in the Manual on Electoral Rolls issued in December 2023. “No voter must be removed without an open and public verification process at the level of gram sabha / ward sabha / booth, in the presence of [a block-level officer] BLO and [Electoral Registration Officer] ERO with facilities for immediate corrections of wrongful deletions,” the manual said.

Political activist and psephologist Yogendra Yadav, citing government data, said that at the time of the 2024 Lok Sabha election, the adult population of the country was 99 crore and voter list had 98 crore names. Now, the adult population is 103 crore and the voter list has come down to 88 crore names, he said.

Asserting that the SIR exercise was a violation of the Representation of the People Act, senior lawyer Prashant Bhushan said there had not been any decision on the SIR taken by the ECI in any meeting. “Unfortunately the Supreme Court let it happen right under their noses,” he added.

The civil society groups demanded the repeal of the Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners Act, 2023. An independent and credible inquiry must be conducted on the constitutionality and legality of all decisions taken under CEC Gyanesh Kumar, they said.

They asked for every SIR-related document to be placed in the public domain, including the original files of the decision to conduct the SIR in each phase; all the minutes of Commission meetings; any objections by ECs or DECs; the complete log and source code of ECInet; the criteria used for categorisation of voters (“logical discrepancy” or “VIP”, etc); changes to the BLO App; and communications of the Commission with the State Chief Electoral Officers (CEOs), and the CEOs with the EROs, including WhatsApp-based communication; and the decision to file appeals against the inclusion of over 16 lakh names in the West Bengal voter list.

They also demanded the restoration of welfare benefits to those who were wrongfully denied the same because their names were deleted from voter rolls.

“We will not be quiet anymore,” lawyer Sanjay Hegde said.

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