The electoral system cannot function effectively if citizens receive information only in the form of large figures and political arguments.
For most citizens, an electoral roll becomes important only when they discover that their name is missing from it. Until then, the voter list can appear to be little more than an administrative record. In reality, it is one of the basic documents through which a citizen’s participation in democracy is recognised.
This is why any large-scale revision of electoral rolls naturally attracts public attention. The ongoing discussion over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) has generated considerable debate, particularly around the large number of entries identified during the exercise. Much of that debate, however, has focused on the headline figure rather than on what the figure actually represents and where it stands in the electoral process.
A number running into crores can create a powerful impression. But numbers by themselves do not explain whether they refer to names proposed for removal, voters requiring verification, duplicate entries, people who have moved away or records relating to deceased persons. Nor do they necessarily represent the number of names that will ultimately disappear from the final electoral roll.
That distinction is not merely technical. It can change the meaning of the entire discussion.
According to the Election Commission material referred to in the debate, the draft exercise identified different categories of entries, including around 2.8 crore persons reported deceased, 3 crore who were absent or could not be traced, 6.3 crore who had permanently shifted and about 1 crore cases of multiple enrolment. These figures form part of an exercise that still provides for claims, objections, verification and corrections before the final roll is published.
The real test, therefore, lies not only in how many names are identified during the exercise, but in what happens afterwards.
A voter whose name is questioned should have an opportunity to establish eligibility. A genuine mistake should have a route to correction. A person who has shifted residence should be able to update the record. Similarly, duplicate or otherwise invalid entries need to be dealt with through the prescribed procedure.
This is where public awareness becomes crucial.
The electoral system cannot function effectively if citizens receive information only in the form of large figures and political arguments. People need to know what a particular category means, what action they can take and at what stage a decision becomes final.
The challenge has become greater because electoral information now competes with an enormous volume of content on social media. A statement can be shared thousands of times before its original context is examined. A preliminary figure can gradually come to be understood as a completed action simply because it is repeatedly presented that way.
Institutions therefore have a communication responsibility alongside their administrative responsibilities.
The Election Commission’s constitutional position gives it the authority to conduct elections and oversee electoral rolls. But authority and public confidence are not exactly the same thing. Confidence develops when citizens can follow the process and understand the safeguards available to them.
India has seen this relationship between institutional authority and public confidence evolve over the years. The tenure of T.N. Seshan as Chief Election Commissioner remains an important reference point in discussions about the Commission because of the more forceful manner in which its existing powers were exercised during the 1990s. The period also demonstrated how institutional visibility can influence public perceptions of the electoral process.
The circumstances today are different. The Commission now operates in an environment where information is instantaneous and public scrutiny is constant. This makes clarity increasingly important.
Transparency, however, should not be confused with an obligation to agree with every criticism. An independent institution must be able to take decisions according to law and procedure even when those decisions are questioned. At the same time, scrutiny should not be dismissed simply because an institution enjoys constitutional protection.
A healthy democratic system needs both independence and accountability.
There is also little value in pretending that a process as vast as India’s electoral administration can never produce mistakes. Records can become outdated. People relocate. Names can be entered more than once. Deaths and changes of residence may not immediately be reflected in official records. What matters is whether the system provides a credible way of identifying such problems and resolving them.
For citizens, the most important question is therefore a simple one: If there is a problem with my electoral record, do I have a fair opportunity to know about it and correct it?
That question goes beyond the present SIR debate. It concerns the basic relationship between the voter and the electoral institution.
In a democracy, citizens should not be expected either to accept every allegation or to reject every concern. They should have access to enough information to examine the matter for themselves. Political claims can be debated, but administrative facts should be capable of verification.
Ultimately, the strength of an electoral system is not demonstrated by the absence of questions. It is demonstrated by the ability of the system to answer legitimate questions through records, procedures and evidence.
Trust should therefore emerge from the process itself. When citizens know how electoral rolls are prepared, understand why a name may be questioned, know where to raise an objection and can see that genuine errors are capable of being corrected, confidence becomes more than a matter of belief. It becomes confidence based on experience.
That is the kind of public trust an electoral democracy should seek—not unquestioning acceptance, but a system in which citizens can participate, verify and hold the process to account while institutions continue to discharge their constitutional responsibilities.
Imchainba