The Supreme Court on Tuesday heard a challenge to the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise by the Election Commission of India. Petitioners accused the EC of becoming a “despot” by turning a suspicion over voter roll purity into a massive countrywide citizenship survey. Advocate Vrinda Grover asked, “Can suspicion lead to not only disenfranchisement but statelessness? A doubt, a suspicion leading to statelessness. What is the basis of this power?” She argued that SIR breaks the Constitution’s vision by allowing citizenship scrutiny through executive order, not parliamentary law. The Election Commission defended itself, saying its full power to check citizenship comes directly from Article 324, which lets it supervise elections. It added that Parliament’s laws on elections under Article 327 must align with the EC’s authority. Advocates Prashant Bhushan and Neha Rathi said this is the first time since 1950 that election rolls are being built from scratch, not updated by adding or deleting names. Bhushan questioned the hurry, linking the process to tragic deaths of 30 Booth Level Officers (BLOs). He also criticized the short time for submitting forms and lack of accessible digital lists. “If you give plenary powers to the EC, it will become a despot. A lot of people in this country see the EC as a despot,” he said, drawing a caution from Chief Justice Surya Kant to stay within legal points. Senior advocate A.M. Singhvi said reasons given by EC such as urbanisation and migration are too generic to justify a huge voter list redo. He called India “rurban” (mix of rural and urban) and said these factors alone cannot back such an exercise. Singhvi added the SIR put citizens on a “presumptive citizenship list” making them prove their Indian citizenship first, instead of the law which presumes citizenship unless foreign citizenship is acquired. “Here, a citizen is put on the guest list without sending him prior notice,” he said. The hearing brings to the fore serious questions on EC’s expanded powers and the impact on voters’ rights. The SIR aims to clean and verify electoral rolls across India but faces sharp criticism over legality and fairness. Published - December 02, 2025 08:54 pm IST