Whether the Logical Discrepancy category is lawful remains open: the Supreme Court has said it has not finally ruled on it and that it was permitted in the West Bengal SIR only as an interim arrangement.
New Delhi: Hearing the challenge to the Delhi SIR on October 28, 2026, the Supreme Court said it has not finally adjudicated on the legality of the Logical Discrepancy (LD) category used by the Election Commission of India in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, and that its legality will be examined in greater detail later [Delhi SIR Challenge Against Election Commission of India].
The Bench comprised Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice V. Mohana. Advocate Prashant Bhushan argued for the petitioners who challenge the placing of voters in the LD category, and Senior Advocate Dama Seshadri Naidu appeared for the Election Commission of India (ECI).
Bihar is not a precedent on this point
The Supreme Court had upheld the SIR exercise in its Bihar judgment of May 27, 2026. The Court has now made clear that the Bihar ruling cannot be read as approval of the LD category, since no such category was used in that exercise.
Justice Bagchi said the Bihar SIR was not a binding precedent on the point, because the ECI had not undertaken the LD exercise there, and that the category was not adjudicated in that case. The Bench told the ECI:
“We have permitted you in Bengal as an interim arrangement.”
It added that the Court had not finally adjudicated on the legality of the LD category and would go into it in greater detail later:
“We have not finally adjudicated on the legality of Logical Discrepancy.”
Reopening entries on the 2003 roll
The Bench questioned how the exercise could reopen the entries of voters already on the 2003 roll, which the ECI has treated as the cut-off. It asked how a man in the 2003 list could have his entry reopened on the ground of a logical discrepancy, and how a roll of 2003 could be reopened.
The Court accepted that the ECI had the power to do so on a one-off basis and that its mapping from 2003 was understood as an en masse exercise, but asked what the position was for persons already in the 2003 list.
On the ECI’s use of patterns to flag entries, the Bench said it would have to examine whether the creation of such patterns amounts to application of mind by a human agency. These were oral observations in the course of the hearing, and no final finding was recorded on the validity of the category.
What each side told the Court
The ECI uses the LD category to flag entries in the draft roll that show apparent inconsistencies and call for further verification, with notices issued to the voters concerned. The petitioners contend that the term is undefined and that large numbers of voters in Delhi have been placed in the category without a clear criterion.
Mr. Naidu told the Court that about 95% of the persons so marked have been restored, a submission made on behalf of the ECI that the Bench did not record a finding on. In West Bengal, the Court allowed the category to operate as an interim measure while the larger questions remained open.
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The question left for the pending challenge
The Bihar judgment dealt with the ECI’s power to conduct a special intensive revision and did not examine the LD category, since none was used there. The Court’s statement leaves open whether flagging an entry on the basis of data-matching patterns, and requiring the voter to establish eligibility again, is consistent with the Constitution and the electoral laws.
That question is to be decided in the pending challenge. No next hearing date was available at the time of writing.
Case Title: Delhi SIR challenge against the Election Commission of India (case number not available)
Bench: Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice V. Mohana, Supreme Court of India
Date of Hearing: October 28, 2026
Appearances: Advocate Prashant Bhushan for the petitioners; Senior Advocate Dama Seshadri Naidu for the Election Commission of India