The Election Commission has told the Supreme Court that it has the sole authority to decide the timing and manner of special intensive revisions of electoral rolls, PTI reported on Saturday.

The commission added that any court directive to conduct revisions at fixed intervals would be an “encroachment” on its constitutional domain.

The submission came in a counter-affidavit filed in response to a plea by Bharatiya Janata Party leader and advocate Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay.

The petition sought a court order directing the poll body to carry out nationwide special intensive revisions of voter rolls ahead of elections to identify and remove undocumented migrants from the electoral lists, The Hindu reported.

In its submission, the commission cited its powers under Article 324 of the Constitution, which vests it with the superintendence, direction, and control of elections and electoral rolls.

It described this authority as the “bedrock” of its powers, allowing it to act even where statutory law is unclear.

The Election Commission also referenced Section 21 of the Representation of the People Act, 1950, and Rule 25 of the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960. While these laws mandate revisions before general and assembly elections, they do not fix timelines or specify the type of revision, giving the commission discretion to decide whether to conduct a summary or intensive revision.

The poll body said it is aware of its responsibility to maintain the integrity of electoral rolls and has already begun preparatory steps.

It informed the court that a nationwide special intensive revision of voter rolls would be conducted using January 1, 2026, as the qualifying date, PTI reported.

Letters were sent to all chief electoral officers of states and Union Territories on July 5 to begin preparatory activities, and a meeting with all electoral officers was held in New Delhi on Wednesday to coordinate the exercise, the commission told the court.

The affidavit came a week after the Supreme Court directed the Election Commission to accept Aadhaar cards as a valid identity proof for the ongoing special intensive revision of voter rolls in Bihar.

The revision of the electoral rolls in Bihar was announced by the Election Commission on June 24.

As part of the exercise, persons whose names were not on the 2003 voter list needed to submit proof of eligibility to vote.

Voters born before July 1, 1987, were required to show proof of their date and place of birth, while those born between July 1, 1987, and December 2, 2004, had to also submit documents establishing the date and place of birth of one of their parents.

Those born after December 2, 2004, needed proof of date of birth for themselves and both parents.

The deadline for submitting claims and objections to the draft rolls was September 1, while the final list will be published on September 30.

Concerns have been raised that the process could disenfranchise many voters. The Election Commission has defended the voter roll revision as a clean-up exercise to remove names of the deceased, duplicate entries and undocumented migrants ahead of the elections in the state scheduled to be held in October-November.

The draft electoral roll published on August 1 showed that 65.6 lakh names were removed from the list.

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