The Election Commission of India (ECI)’s decision to initiate a Special Summary Revision (SSR) in 17 states and UTs, including Bihar, West Bengal, and Tamil Nadu, where it has held the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, is an admission of guilt and defeat. Last year, the ECI skipped this regular annual exercise to launch the SIR, rewriting electoral rolls in its own way, questioning voters’ rights, excluding large numbers of voters, and inflicting tension and trauma on citizens. With this latest measure, and others announced last month after revelations about its functioning, the ECI may be attempting to undo some of the wrongs done through the SIR. While the SIR required every voter to fill an enumeration form to make it to the draft roll, in the SSR all existing voters will automatically make it to the draft roll. The ECI has said it will enrol new voters, re-enrol those left out using the original Form 6, and disallow mass Form 7 objections. Crucially, it will also release searchable election rolls in text-based PDFs to parties and candidates.

For over two years now, the Opposition has demanded digital, machine-readable rolls. The ECI had rejected it, claiming that the Supreme Court disallowed it and that it would violate voter privacy. If so, why has the ECI allowed it now? It should explain why it has changed its position on this and other matters. It must also explain whether the new enrolment drive will cover voters deleted in West Bengal, and whose cases are pending before tribunals. It should also publish separate lists of fresh voters enrolled and voters re-enrolled after deletion.

The SIR amounted to a violation of rights and denial of voting rights to millions through arbitrary and prejudicial use of power. The question now is whether reversing many of its provisions will restore the pre-SIR rolls. Clearly, the ECI’s rethinking and reversals have been forced by the protests. The idea may be to claim that protests are unnecessary because the ECI’s unacceptable actions have now been reversed. But these are not mistakes to be forgiven once corrected; they are crimes that demand accountability. In any case, the result of the exercise remains uncertain. The system of appointing ECI members and the law granting them legal immunity must be reviewed. The SIR violated basic democratic and electoral norms. Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, who orchestrated the vile attempt to scuttle India’s electoral system, should resign — or be made to resign. (Source: DH)