Senior Advocate Dushyant Dave has warned that universal adult franchise is being eroded through the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls, blaming both the Election Commission and the Supreme Court. He said that he and his wife had also received notices questioning their inclusion in Delhi’s voter list.
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Senior Advocate Dushyant Dave has alleged that India’s guarantee of universal adult franchise is “going away” because of the manner in which the Election Commission of India is conducting the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls and the Supreme Court’s response to the exercise.
Speaking at the 17th K.M. Bashir Memorial Lecture, Dave connected voting rights with Dr B.R. Ambedkar’s conception of political equality. He argued that adult franchise is the foundation of that equality and warned that large-scale questioning or exclusion of voters could weaken representative democracy itself.
“Thanks to Election Commission and Supreme Court of India, adult franchise is going away because in the name of the SIR, everybody, even my wife and I have received notices as to whether we should really be included in voters list or not.”
Senior Advocate Dushyant Dave
Dave Says He And His Wife Received SIR Notices
Dave said that both he and his wife had received notices asking whether they should continue to be included in the electoral roll. He presented their experience as an example of the uncertainty citizens may face during the revision process.
According to Dave, a process intended to maintain accurate electoral rolls cannot be permitted to reverse the constitutional presumption that every eligible adult citizen is entitled to vote. His concern was that the documentary burden and scale of the exercise could turn verification into disenfranchisement.
He criticised the Supreme Court for permitting the SIR process to continue and alleged that judicial intervention had not adequately protected voters who faced deletion or exclusion.
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Large Exclusion Figures Claimed During Lecture
During the lecture, Dave cited large figures for persons allegedly kept out of or at risk of exclusion from electoral rolls in West Bengal, Bihar, Delhi and Maharashtra. He also claimed that as many as 13.5 crore people could effectively be treated as non-citizens through the process.
These numbers were stated by Dave in the speech and are reproduced as his claims. They were not accompanied in the lecture by a state-wise official dataset or methodology and should not be read as independently established figures.
Dave also referred to reported disagreements within the Election Commission, alleging that two Election Commissioners had recently objected to actions taken by the Chief Election Commissioner. He argued that such institutional disagreements required scrutiny rather than silence.
Voting Right Framed As Question Of Political Equality
Dave’s argument went beyond the mechanics of maintaining voter lists. He framed the controversy as a test of political equality: if citizens must repeatedly prove their eligibility under unclear standards, or cannot vote while challenges remain pending, the formal promise of one person, one vote may lose practical meaning.
He said the Constitution had not failed India. Instead, he accused constitutional bodies of weakening the rights and safeguards that the document was designed to protect.
The criticism comes amid continuing litigation over SIR notices, exclusion from rolls, undefined “logical discrepancy” criteria and the pace at which appeals are being considered. The legal questions include the scope of the Election Commission’s power to revise rolls, the procedural safeguards owed to voters and the remedy available when exclusion disputes remain unresolved during an election.
Dave’s remarks represent his assessment of the SIR process and the Supreme Court’s role. They do not constitute a judicial finding that the Election Commission has unlawfully disenfranchised the numbers he cited.
Speech: 17th K.M. Bashir Memorial Lecture
Speaker: Senior Advocate Dushyant Dave
Theme: “Are We Failing The Constitution Or Has The Constitution Failed Us?”