December 2, 2025 05:00 AM IST
First published on: Dec 2, 2025 at 05:00 AM IST
ON June 24, the day the Election Commission issued the order directing a nationwide Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls starting with Bihar, Election Commissioner Sukhbir Singh Sandhu put on record a note of caution in the order’s draft version, The Indian Express has learnt.
“Care should be taken that genuine voters/citizens, particularly old, sick, PwD (persons with disabilities), poor and other vulnerable groups do not feel harassed and are facilitated,” Sandhu wrote in the file of the draft order.
This was an apparent reference to the exercise that required all existing electors to fill enumeration forms and certain categories to furnish additional documents to prove their eligibility.
Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar subsequently signed off on the file.
Significantly, in a sign of the urgency with which the order was issued, the draft order was approved on WhatsApp that very same day.
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When the final order was made public on the evening of June 24, it carried a telling amendment.
In Paragraphs 2.5 and 2.6, the draft order, reviewed by The Indian Express, had explicitly linked the SIR to the Citizenship Act, using the changes in the Act to justify the process: “The Commission has a constitutional obligation to ensure that only persons who are citizens as per the Constitution of India and the Citizenship Act, 1955 (‘Citizenship Act’) are included in the electoral roll. The Citizenship Act underwent a significant amendment in 2004 and thereafter no intensive revision has been conducted across the country.”
The final order, however, dropped the references to the Citizenship Act and the amendment passed in 2003 and applicable from 2004.
In Paragraph 8 of the final order dated June 24, the EC wrote: “Whereas, one of the fundamental pre-conditions set out in Article 326 of the Constitution is that a person is required to be an Indian citizen, for his/her name to be registered in the electoral roll. Consequently, the Commission has a constitutional obligation to ensure that only persons who are citizens;” (sic).
The paragraph ends abruptly, the sentence breaks off after the semicolon.
Since June 24, the EC has not commented on the incomplete line.
On November 28, The Indian Express contacted the EC spokesperson to ask about the change in the two orders but no comment was available.
The Indian Express also asked Commissioner Sandhu about his note and whether his concerns were addressed. He was unavailable for comment.
However, a perusal of the final order shows that Sandhu’s concerns found an echo in the final order.
The point he flagged was incorporated in Paragraph 13 of the final order without attributing it to him.
“This being an intensive revision, in case enumeration form is not submitted before July 25, 2025, the name of the elector can not be included in the draft rolls. However, CEO/DEO/ERO/BLO (for the Chief Electoral Officer, District Election Officers, Electoral Registration Officers and Booth Level Officers) should also take care that genuine electors, particularly old, sick, PwD, poor and other vulnerable groups are not harassed and are facilitated to the extent possible, including through deployment of volunteers,” the June 24 order states.
Significantly, Sandhu’s reference to “citizens,” was dropped.