The Supreme Court on Wednesday (January 21, 2026) said the Election Commission of India (ECI) is blessed with the “widest discretions” but its “deviations” while revising electoral rolls, as in the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) 2025 exercise, cannot be “untrammelled or unregulated” in breach of principles of natural justice and procedure prescribed under the Registration of Electors Rules of 1960.
“You have the authority to deviate, but not by throwing out the Rules... Form 6 has six notified documents, your SIR has 11 documents. We would call upon you to answer if you can increase or eliminate documents which are already prescribed?” Justice Joymalya Bagchi, a member of the Division Bench headed by the Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, asked the ECI.
Also Read: Supreme Court hearing on SIR updates
Senior advocate Rakesh Dwivedi, for the ECI, submitted that the SIR 2025 was “sustainable” under Article 324 (power of superintendence, direction and control of ECI over preparing electoral rolls and conducting elections) read with Section 21(3) of the Representation of the People Act, 1950.
Section 21(3) of the Act clothes the ECI with a residuary power to direct a special revision of the electoral roll for any constituency or part of a constituency in “such manner as it may think fit”.
