The Election Commission has told the Supreme Court that it has decided to conduct a “pre-revision” exercise from January 1 as a precursor to the special intensive revision (SIR) of voter rolls across the country.

The development comes amid a raging controversy over the ongoing SIR in poll-bound Bihar, where an estimated 65 lakh voters have been excluded from the draft rolls. Multiple petitions challenging the validity of the exercise have been filed in the Supreme Court.

The EC has argued that the top court can give it no general direction on the SIR as it amounts to encroaching upon the exclusive jurisdiction of the poll panel.

In a counter-affidavit filed in the apex court, the poll panel has sought the dismissal of a PIL by advocate Ashwini Upadhyay for direction to conduct the SIR all over the country instead of only in Bihar. A bench of Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi had recently issued a notice to the EC seeking its response on the matter.

“The ECI is cognizant of its statutory responsibility to maintain the purity and integrity of the electoral rolls and, in exercise of its powers under the Representation of the People Act, 1950, has decided to conduct SIR in different states as envisaged under para 10 of the SIR order dated June 24, 2025, the schedule for which is to be issued separately in due course,” the counter-affidavit stated.

“In this regard, the commission, vide its letter dated July 5, 2025, addressed to all chief electoral officers (CEOs) of states and Union Territories (except Bihar), has directed initiation of immediate pre-revision activities for the SIR of electoral rolls with reference to January 1, 2026, as the qualifying date,” it added.

Referring to the July 5 letter, it said the EC had convened a conference of all CEOs of states and Union Territories in New Delhi on September 10.

According to the EC, under Article 324 of the Constitution, the superintendence, direction and control of the preparation of electoral rolls for, and the conduct of, all elections to Parliament and to the legislature of every state are vested in the poll panel.

“The said constitutional provision forms the bedrock of the Election Commission’s plenary authority in all matters relating to the preparation of electoral rolls and conduct of elections,” it said.

The affidavit said the enabling provisions under the Representation of the People Act (RPA), 1950, and the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960, provided the EC power to decide whether an intensive or summary revision was appropriate, based on prevailing circumstances.

Referring to Section 21 of the RPA, the EC said it provided for the preparation and revision of the electoral rolls and vested a discretion in the poll panel as regards the timing of the revisional exercise.

It said Section 21 of the RPA must be read with Rule 25 of the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960, which governed the exercise of revision and the manner in which it was to be conducted.

“On a bare perusal of Rule 25, it is further apparent that the decision to conduct a summary or an intensive revision of the electoral roll is left to the discretion of the EC. It is submitted that pursuant to the above-quoted statutory mandate, the EC has complete discretion over the policy of revision to the exclusion of any other authority,” the affidavit said.

It added that “any direction to conduct ‘SIR’ at regular interval throughout the country would encroach upon the exclusive jurisdiction of the EC”.