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Parakala Prabhakar on the ECI, SIR and the deletion of voters | South Central 95

South Central examines the Election Commission’s Special Intensive Revision, the deletion of voters from electoral rolls, questions surrounding the functioning of the ECI and what these developments mean for the credibility of India’s elections.

Pooja Prasanna, Anisha Sheth

Published:2nd Oct, 2026 at 6:59 PM

In this week’s South Central, hosts Pooja Prasanna and Anisha Sheth are joined by political economist and author Dr Parakala Prabhakar for an extended conversation on the Election Commission of India (ECI), the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, the deletion of voters and the larger questions these developments raise about India’s electoral democracy.

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Pooja begins the conversation by asking Dr Prabhakar about the Indian Express investigation into the Election Commission and the response issued by the poll body.

Prabhakar describes the investigation as a significant piece of journalism and argues that the Election Commission’s response did not adequately address several of the specific questions raised by the report, including issues surrounding Form 6 applications, the inclusion of voters and the deletion of names from electoral rolls.

He also points to objections and notes reportedly raised by the other two Election Commissioners, questioning why these concerns were not addressed.

The conversation then turns to the functioning of the three-member Election Commission and the role of the Chief Election Commissioner.

Dr Prabhakar says that the three Election Commissioners have equal status and that the Chief Election Commissioner is “first among equals”, rather than being the supreme authority within the Commission.

The discussion then moves to the Election Commission’s claim that the Special Intensive Revision has been endorsed by the Supreme Court. Prabhakar questions the extent of that endorsement, particularly in relation to changes made to Form 6 after the court’s decision. He also asks whether the scale of deletions is consistent with India’s growing population and argues that the process deserves greater scrutiny.

The conversation then looks at what the deletions could mean for the legitimacy of elections themselves. If the Election Commission now considers large numbers of people who appeared on earlier electoral rolls to have been ineligible, Dr Prabhakar asks what that means for elections that were conducted using those same rolls.

Prabhakar argues that this raises questions about the credibility of previous elections as well as future ones.

“If they say that they are cleaning up the electoral roll, it is assumed that the previous electoral rolls were not clean,” he says, questioning the implications of that position for elections conducted using those rolls.

The discussion also examines the political consequences of removing voters from electoral rolls. Prabhakar argues that political parties may be more concerned about whether deleted voters affect their own electoral prospects than about the loss of franchise itself.

He says that once people disappear from electoral rolls, they can also disappear from the political consciousness of parties and governments, because their votes no longer have an electoral impact.

The conversation also discusses the potential relationship between SIR and delimitation. Dr Prabhakar says that the two processes need to be examined together because changes to electoral rolls and the redrawing of constituencies can affect the composition of India’s political representation.

He also makes a broader appeal for citizens to take greater responsibility for defending democratic institutions.

The conversation ends with Prabhakar arguing that electoral integrity is ultimately a question that concerns citizens themselves, rather than being merely a contest between political parties and institutions.

Tune in to this discussion here.

Audio timecodes:

00:00:00 - Introduction

00:02:35 - Headlines

00:09:35 - ECI, SIR and the deletion of voters

References

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