Congress leader P. Chidambaram is portraying the Election Commission of India’s decision to conduct Special Summary Revision (SSR) across 17 States and Union Territories as a retreat following protests and Supreme Court intervention. However, the facts tell a different story.
The ECI has announced the routine SSR exercise for 17 states and Union Territories (UTs), including the five states where Assembly elections are due in early 2027. It is done to update the electoral roll with additions of newly eligible voters and deletions of those who have passed away or shifted. It has been done before each Lok Sabha and Assembly election and also annually, with January 1 as the qualifying date. This means that all those who turn 18 as of January 1 are eligible to be enrolled in the electoral roll of the SSR. These developments do not prove that SIR was abandoned because of protests or that voter deletions were illegal.
After the protests and the notice issued by the Supreme Court, wisdom has dawned on the ECI and Mr Gyanesh Kumar S.I.R. has been abandoned for the 17 remaining States and UTs, and it will only be the customary SSR (special summary revision) Documents to prove citizenship need not be produced Why were 20 States discriminated against under S.I.R. and 13,30,00,000 names (including the dead) were removed without Due Process? After removing crores of names illegally, now the ECI has undertaken another exercise to include the ‘left out’ voters! Mr Gyanesh Kumar should be surcharged for the double expenditure
— P. Chidambaram (@PChidambaram_IN) October 16, 2026
Chidambaram’s claim that 13.3 crore names were removed “without due process” is an allegation, not an established judicial finding. The Supreme Court’s notice to the ECI seeks scrutiny of the process; it does not amount to a ruling that the exercise was illegal.
According to Election Commission sources, SIR has not been scrapped in a single State/UT. It was already completed in 17 States/UTs under Phases I & II, including poll-bound States. SSR in poll-bound States is a statutory requirement under Section 21 of the RP Act, 1950, not an escape from SIR and SIR will cover every State/UT.
Political criticism is no substitute for evidence. Before accusing the ECI of illegality and demanding that the Chief Election Commissioner, Gyanesh Kumar, be surcharged, Congress leader Chidambaram should distinguish between verified facts, allegations and political interpretation.
