1 day ago
Lokur-Led Panel Begins Review of Election Commission’s SIR
A group of lawyers has asked five retired judges to review changes to India’s voter lists.
Those changes are called the Special Intensive Revision, or SIR.
Former Supreme Court judge Madan B. Lokur will lead the group.
It plans to check whether the process followed the law and whether eligible voters stayed on the lists.
The group also wants to check whether entries for people who should not be listed were removed.
It plans to hold hearings around the country and listen to citizens, organisations and experts.
The lawyers’ association says the group will work independently.
Critical articles question whether the group can be impartial and whether a private association has authority to conduct such an inquiry.
The articles do not report the panel’s findings.
The Lawyers Association for Constitution announced a five-member panel of former judges on October 2, 2026, to examine the Election Commission’s Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls.
Former Supreme Court judge Madan B. Lokur will chair the panel, joined by A. K. Patnaik, Badar Durrez Ahmad, Rekha Sharma and Anjana Prakash.
The panel says it will assess the exercise’s constitutional and statutory validity, methods and impact, including whether eligible voters remained listed and ineligible entries were removed.
The commission plans nationwide public hearings to hear from affected citizens, civil society organisations and experts, and says it will be responsible for its findings and recommendations.
The articles differ in framing: one describes an autonomous inquiry, while critical coverage questions the panel’s impartiality and authority because it was formed by a private lawyers’ association and its members’ views and public statements.
- Who
- The Lawyers Association for Constitution formed a five-member panel of former judges chaired by Madan B. Lokur.
- What
- The panel will review the Election Commission of India’s Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls.
- Where
- The inquiry is to include public hearings across India.
- When
- The panel was announced on October 2, 2026.
- Why
- To examine the SIR’s legal validity, methodology and impact, including its effects on eligible voters.
Panel’s stated purpose
Critics’ concerns
Independence and impartiality
Panel’s stated purpose
The Lawyers Association for Constitution says the commission will function autonomously and independently examine the SIR.
Critics’ concerns
Critical articles argue that the panel’s composition and members’ prior public positions raise questions about whether its review will be impartial.
Authority of the inquiry
Panel’s stated purpose
The association has assigned the panel responsibility for examining the SIR and issuing findings and recommendations.
Critics’ concerns
Critical coverage describes the panel as constituted by a private lawyers’ body and questions its legal or constitutional authority to conduct the inquiry.
Key facts
- Panel size
- Five former judges
- Chair
- Madan B. Lokur, former Supreme Court judge
- Other panel members
- A. K. Patnaik, Badar Durrez Ahmad, Rekha Sharma and Anjana Prakash
- Review subject
- The Election Commission of India’s Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls
- Planned inquiry
- Legal research, scrutiny and public hearings
- Planned participants
- Affected citizens, civil society organisations and experts
- Legal advisers
- Senior lawyers including Kapil Sibal, Prashant Bhushan, Chander Uday Singh, Prashanto Chandra Sen, Raju Ramachandran, Rebecca Mammen John, Warisha Farasat and Vrinda Grover
- Constituting body
- Lawyers Association for Constitution, described in the articles as a private lawyers’ association
Quotes
Lawyers Association for Constitution
A private lawyers’ body that constituted the commission.
“For the first question which comes to mind when looking at that photograph is this – What was there to celebrate about? Was it a personal victory for the five judges as final arbiters of a long-pending dispute? Surely for a judge, every order is a celebration of her or his judicial acumen. So the Ayodhya judgment – no matter how politically important for some – should have been seen as just another judgment,”
opindia.com
“The newly-formed independent commission of former judges on the Special Intensive Revision of the electoral roll will function with complete autonomy to examine the constitutional and statutory validity, methodology and overall impact of the SIR exercise on eligible voters.”
freepressjournal.in
Rekha Sharma
Former Delhi High Court judge and commission member
“If judges turn to God, why do we have courts at all? Go to priests. They have better communication with God.”
opindia.com
Sources
Who is Madan Lokur, retired SC judge turned 'activist' now headling 'independent commission' to determine validity and impact of SIR
Sibal, Bhushan and more: Meet the self-anointed arbiters of SIR
Election Commission's SIR Under Scrutiny As Ex-SC Judge Madan B Lokur-Led Panel Begins Independent Review
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