Note 011
What the Election Commission does, and what it does not do
The Election Commission of India (ECI) is a constitutional body created under Article 324 of the Constitution. It was established on 25 January 1950, and…
Indian Democracy in 100 Notes · Theme 2 of 10
🗳️ Election Commission & voter rolls
How voter rolls are made and revised, what SIR is, the 2026 debate over deletions, and what the law actually says about removing a Chief Election Commissioner.
Note 012
How voter rolls are made: enrolment, revision, and deletion rules
An electoral roll, or voter list, is the official list of people entitled to vote in a constituency. Without a correct roll, even a well-run polling day…
Note 013
What is SIR? Special Intensive Revision explained simply
Special Intensive Revision, or SIR, is a thorough, time-bound review of electoral rolls ordered by the Election Commission. It is more searching than a…
Note 014
The 2026 SIR debate: what the opposition alleged, and what the EC said
By late 2026, SIR had become one of India's most contested electoral issues. The debate is best understood as two different claims about the same…
Note 015
Form 6 and voter registration: why a form became a controversy
Form 6 is the standard application for inclusion of a name in the electoral roll. It is used mainly by a person enrolling for the first time, for example…
Note 016
ECINET and digital voter rolls: promise and concern
ECINET is the Election Commission's unified digital platform for election services. According to a Press Information Bureau release of 22 January 2026, it…
Note 017
The 31 October 2026 symbolic public impeachment: what happened, and what it was not
On 31 October 2026, the opposition INDIA bloc held a symbolic "public impeachment" — also called Jan Mahabhiyog — of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh…
Note 018
How a CEC can actually be removed: Article 324(5) explained
The Constitution deliberately makes it hard to remove a Chief Election Commissioner. Article 324(5) says the CEC "shall not be removed from his office…
Note 019
Voters who say their names were deleted: what remedies exist
Finding your name missing from a draft or final roll is distressing, but it is not necessarily the end of the story. Electoral law provides a sequence of…
Note 020
Trust in elections: how democracies measure and rebuild it
Trust in elections is not the same as liking a result. A losing voter can still trust the process if the rules were clear, the count was checkable, and…