The Supreme Court’s May 27 judgement upholding ECI’s claim of SIR as an essential, legal mechanism to maintain clean and accurate voter rolls by eliminating duplicate or ineligible entries, has once again ignored the core question of justice to the people who are excluded from the voterlist. The manner in which the ECI’s departure from earlier electoral revisions (such as the 2003 Revision that spread over six months and relied on existing electoral rolls and Voter ID cards) has led to targeted exclusion of the marginalised and disadvantaged sections, especially Muslims, Dalits and women, is not at all given proper consideration in the judgement. For instance, the so called “logical discrepancy”, voter objection process, etc., that were used even minor spelling variances for disproportionately targeting and excluding/deleting marginalized communities, religious minorities, migrant workers and women, especially across States like Bengal and Bihar, was not at all got proper consideration by the Court.
Of course, the judgement that justified the SIR process as a routine administrative exercise for ensuring free and fair elections, has further legitimised the entire claims of the Central regime regarding it. No wonder, the BJP that used ECI as an extension of the fascist regime for weaponising SIR to systematically carrying out mass disenfranchisement of minorities and oppressed sections, has wholeheartedly welcomed the judgement along with the claim that their electoral victory in Bengal and elsewhere was due to cadre network and grassroots organisational structure.
And, the SC giving a clean chit to SIR will have its ensuing repercussions, mainly in the case of citizenship itself. The process of denying welfare and democratic rights to the disenfranchised is already reported from States under the fascist “double engine”. No doubt, it is high time on the part of all the secular, democratic, and anti-fascist forces to take up SIR not as an isolated one, but as integrally linked up with the itensifying the majoritarian fascist agenda today.
P J James
General Secretary
CPI (ML) Red Star
New Delhi
28/05/2026
