FORMER JUDGES OPEN NATIONWIDE INQUIRY INTO VOTER-ROLL REVISION
October 3, 2026
A five-member panel of retired Supreme Court and High Court judges will examine the legality, methodology and impact of the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls, with public hearings planned across the country.
A five-member panel of former Supreme Court and High Court judges has been constituted to independently examine the Election Commission’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. The initiative has been announced by the Lawyers Association for Constitution, which said the panel would investigate the constitutional and statutory validity, methodology and wider impact of the exercise on eligible voters.
Former Supreme Court judge Madan B. Lokur will chair the commission. Its other members are former Supreme Court judge A.K. Patnaik, former Chief Justice of the Jammu and Kashmir High Court Badar Durrez Ahmad, and former High Court judges Rekha Sharma and Anjana Prakash.
The panel plans to conduct public hearings in different parts of the country, allowing affected citizens, civil society organisations and experts to present their experiences and evidence. It will also undertake field research and analyse information concerning additions and deletions from electoral rolls.
The inquiry will specifically examine whether eligible citizens have been retained on electoral rolls and whether entries considered ineligible have been appropriately removed. A dedicated research wing is expected to collect and analyse relevant electoral data for consideration by the commission.
Several senior lawyers, including Kapil Sibal, Prashant Bhushan, Raju Ramachandran, Rebecca Mammen John and Vrinda Grover, are expected to provide legal advice to the panel.
The commission has said it intends to complete its inquiry on an intensive schedule and release its findings and recommendations by December 2026. Its work will proceed separately from the Election Commission's own electoral-roll revision and corrective measures.
The formation of the panel adds another layer of public and legal scrutiny to the ongoing debate over the SIR exercise, particularly concerning voter inclusion, exclusion and the procedures used to revise electoral rolls.
