The Crossbill Team
The Election Commission’s annual exercise to revise electoral rolls for 2026-27 has yet to be announced, raising concerns over the delayed inclusion of newly eligible voters who have turned 18.
The Summary Special Revision (SSR), which is ordinarily announced around May-June each year, has reportedly been held up amid differences between Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi.
The delay comes amid growing scrutiny of the functioning of the poll panel following an investigation by The Indian Express, which found that Sandhu and Joshi formally objected at least 14 times over the past 10 months to decisions and orders that they said were taken without their knowledge.
The SSR has not been conducted since the 2024 cycle, after the Election Commission launched the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in Bihar in 2025. The annual revision, a practice followed across states for decades, was not resumed in 2025-26 despite the two election commissioners reportedly “strongly advocating and urging the need” for its return.
According to The Economic Times, Sandhu and Joshi have argued that the completion of an SIR should not prevent the annual SSR from being carried out. They have cited the ECI’s own electoral-roll manual and stressed that the exercise is required to ensure that newly eligible voters are added to the rolls.
The disagreement reportedly went as far as the CEC seeking a legal opinion on whether an SSR was required while SIR was underway. Following the legal advice, Sandhu and Joshi are learnt to have reiterated their position that the annual revision should resume.
The SSR serves a purpose beyond routine updating of electoral rolls. It enables the Election Commission to update photo electoral rolls, identify discrepancies and mismatches and, crucially, facilitate the registration of citizens turning 18.
The system now provides four qualifying dates — January 1, April 1, July 1 and October 1 — allowing eligible young citizens to register during the year instead of waiting for the next annual cycle. Previously, January 1 was the sole qualifying date, meaning those who turned 18 immediately afterwards could have to wait almost an entire year before registering.
The delay in announcing the 2026-27 SSR has consequently pushed the entire revision calendar behind schedule. The ECI normally issues instructions to state chief electoral officers by the end of May or early June.
This is followed by two to three months of pre-revision work, after which draft electoral rolls are generally published between late August and early October. A 30-45-day period is then provided for claims and objections.
With the process yet to begin, the conventional January publication of final electoral rolls is also facing uncertainty. The delay assumes added significance in states due to hold Assembly elections in 2027, where updated electoral rolls would be particularly important ahead of the polls.
The issue is also relevant to states where the SIR process is still underway, including Uttarakhand and Punjab. At the same time, states that have already completed the intensive revision, including Bihar, have not yet gone through a subsequent annual roll revision. The absence of the SSR could therefore leave newly eligible voters waiting longer for their names to be added to the electoral rolls.
The reported differences within the ECI appear to have had consequences beyond electoral-roll revision.
According to The Economic Times, annual confidential reports of nearly 50 officials, including chief electoral officers and deputy election commissioners transferred during 2025-26, have reportedly remained pending because they could not be signed collectively by the three members of the Commission.
Several officials are learnt to have approached the CEC and the two election commissioners individually seeking clearance of their reports. Some reports reportedly remain pending even after the concerned officials have taken up new postings.
The developments come as questions over internal decision-making at the ECI intensify.
The Indian Express investigation reported that Sandhu and Joshi recorded objections at least 14 times between October 2025 and August 2026, including objections concerning the addition and deletion of voters and other decisions related to the electoral-roll process.
In a related development, The Economic Times reporter who reported on the delayed SSR has also said that they received a notice during the SIR process citing a “name mismatch”.
The Summary Special Revision (SSR), which is ordinarily announced around May-June each year, has reportedly been held up amid differences between Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi.
The delay comes amid growing scrutiny of the functioning of the poll panel following an investigation by The Indian Express, which found that Sandhu and Joshi formally objected at least 14 times over the past 10 months to decisions and orders that they said were taken without their knowledge.
The SSR has not been conducted since the 2024 cycle, after the Election Commission launched the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in Bihar in 2025. The annual revision, a practice followed across states for decades, was not resumed in 2025-26 despite the two election commissioners reportedly “strongly advocating and urging the need” for its return.
According to The Economic Times, Sandhu and Joshi have argued that the completion of an SIR should not prevent the annual SSR from being carried out. They have cited the ECI’s own electoral-roll manual and stressed that the exercise is required to ensure that newly eligible voters are added to the rolls.
The disagreement reportedly went as far as the CEC seeking a legal opinion on whether an SSR was required while SIR was underway. Following the legal advice, Sandhu and Joshi are learnt to have reiterated their position that the annual revision should resume.
The SSR serves a purpose beyond routine updating of electoral rolls. It enables the Election Commission to update photo electoral rolls, identify discrepancies and mismatches and, crucially, facilitate the registration of citizens turning 18.
The system now provides four qualifying dates — January 1, April 1, July 1 and October 1 — allowing eligible young citizens to register during the year instead of waiting for the next annual cycle. Previously, January 1 was the sole qualifying date, meaning those who turned 18 immediately afterwards could have to wait almost an entire year before registering.
The delay in announcing the 2026-27 SSR has consequently pushed the entire revision calendar behind schedule. The ECI normally issues instructions to state chief electoral officers by the end of May or early June.
This is followed by two to three months of pre-revision work, after which draft electoral rolls are generally published between late August and early October. A 30-45-day period is then provided for claims and objections.
With the process yet to begin, the conventional January publication of final electoral rolls is also facing uncertainty. The delay assumes added significance in states due to hold Assembly elections in 2027, where updated electoral rolls would be particularly important ahead of the polls.
The issue is also relevant to states where the SIR process is still underway, including Uttarakhand and Punjab. At the same time, states that have already completed the intensive revision, including Bihar, have not yet gone through a subsequent annual roll revision. The absence of the SSR could therefore leave newly eligible voters waiting longer for their names to be added to the electoral rolls.
The reported differences within the ECI appear to have had consequences beyond electoral-roll revision.
According to The Economic Times, annual confidential reports of nearly 50 officials, including chief electoral officers and deputy election commissioners transferred during 2025-26, have reportedly remained pending because they could not be signed collectively by the three members of the Commission.
Several officials are learnt to have approached the CEC and the two election commissioners individually seeking clearance of their reports. Some reports reportedly remain pending even after the concerned officials have taken up new postings.
The developments come as questions over internal decision-making at the ECI intensify.
The Indian Express investigation reported that Sandhu and Joshi recorded objections at least 14 times between October 2025 and August 2026, including objections concerning the addition and deletion of voters and other decisions related to the electoral-roll process.
In a related development, The Economic Times reporter who reported on the delayed SSR has also said that they received a notice during the SIR process citing a “name mismatch”.
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