Swatantra Bharat

Who counts the votes

Who selects the referee, and what changed on the rolls — the selection panel, the deletions and the additions, in order, from court records and official Election Commission figures.

The Act legislatively replaced the panel the judgment had mandated, dropping the Chief Justice for a minister named by the PM.The revision that began on 25 June produced this draft roll five weeks later.Two weeks after the revision began, the Supreme Court allowed it to proceed while urging a wider list of documents.The same revision methodology, extended from Bihar to West Bengal.The first Chief Election Commissioner chosen under the panel the 2023 Act had reconstituted.The same Act, published the same day.The letter came six days after the result; the reply a month after the result.Five and a half months later, a further allegation on Maharashtra's roll additions and a further Commission reply.Ten days later, the Chief Election Commissioner on the same allegations.Draft roll to final roll, two months later.Final roll to result, six and a half weeks later.Draft roll to final roll, 74 days later.The names marked under adjudication in the final roll, decided five and a half weeks later.Appeals before the tribunals set up for these decisions, as counted four and a half months later.Three weeks later, the Commission's own count of the same appeals.Draft roll to final roll, 45 days later.About two years later, the Supreme Court issued notice on a challenge to this section.Result to swearing-in, four weeks later.Eleven weeks after the retention directive, asked about releasing footage.Two days after the fire, a police investigation team began work.Four days after the fire, a report on where and in whose custody the machines were kept.Seventeen weeks after the direction to maintain polling CCTVs as before, the 45-day retention letter.About six weeks after webcasting was made mandatory in every booth, a dispute over strongroom CCTV.Five days after the strongroom dispute, a second reply denying that CCTV was switched off, this time on counting.Eleven weeks after the Bhabanipur preservation order, the same High Court on which machines a pending petition requires to be kept.About fifteen weeks after the Lok Sabha answer on footage retention, the report of 2024 footage destroyed.Three days after the report on recorded objections, a meeting of all three Commissioners and decisions announced with "the unanimous approval of the Commission".Fourteen days later, an application sought recall of this verdict.Nine days after the full Commission meeting, the Supreme Court issued notice on petitions against 14 decisions.Seven weeks after the second phase was announced, West Bengal published its draft roll.Thirteen days after the third phase was announced, the Supreme Court upheld the Bihar revision.The first affidavit gave no break-up of the appeals; a second affidavit gave 16,10,311 against inclusion.About eight months after seven AEROs were suspended over the revision, the list of names it removed was published.The same day the Court said it had not approved any modification to Form 6, the Commission issued its fact check on Form 6.Four weeks after the Bihar final roll, the revision was extended to 12 States and Union Territories.Seventy-three years after the Constitution came into force, with no law made by Parliament on appointments under Article 324(2), the Supreme Court set a panel until Parliament legislates.On the day the draft roll removed more than 65.62 lakh names, the Commission gave its count by reason: 22.34 lakh deceased, more than 36.28 lakh shifted or untraced, and over 7 lakh registered in two constituencies.The final roll recorded a further 3.66 lakh removals after the draft; Bihar Chief Electoral Officer records later put the figure at 3,66,742, with no reason cited for 9,968.The petition against the amendment was filed four days after it was notified; notice was issued 26 days after.The second phase was announced for 12 States and Union Territories with 51 crore voters; their draft rolls listed 44.4 crore.Delhi's final roll after the January 2025 summary revision listed 1,55,24,858 electors; before the third-phase intensive revision the roll had 1,45,10,299.The January 2025 summary revision removed 89,907 names, the dead and the shifted together; the December 2025 intensive revision draft recorded 6,49,885 electors as deceased.A day after the report, which listed control of the electoral-roll database among the Commissioners' objections, Commission officials said only field officers can perform statutory functions on ECINet.Commission officials said on 24 September that one ERO's mistaken click kept the 97 off the Goa roll; the emails reported by The Indian Express record EROs in several constituencies seeking a rollback.The Commission's 26 September note said 81 of the 97 Goa voters left off the final roll had filed Form 6; the Goa CEO gave 88 accepted on 1 October.Two days after the Maharashtra CEO asked for an "Exempted from Hearing" option, the Commission's 26 September note let EROs dispense with hearings.Five months later, instructions on how long poll footage is kept.Three weeks after the letter, and the day after it was reported.The instructions under which the Commission told the court the footage was destroyed, reported five and a half months later.The day before the count.The complaints concerned this count; the reply came three weeks later.Both relate to the 2026 West Bengal election; the fire destroyed machines used in that poll.The Leader of the Opposition recorded a dissent to the same selection, over its timing before a Supreme Court hearing on the law.The Commission selected under the amended panel conducted this revision.The same case, from interim directions to a final judgment upholding the exercise.The same litigation moved from allowing the exercise to directing that Aadhaar be accepted for inclusion.The leader named in the Narada matter became Chief Minister after the next state election.The documented late additions, and the contested allegation about how some were filed — asserted by the Trinamool Congress and denied by the state poll officer.Roll changes in both directions before the 2026 Bengal poll — about 58 lakh names removed under the revision, then about 7 lakh new voters added via Form-6 in the final weeks.The additions were counted from this final roll onward, up to the close of enrolment.The West Bengal deletions were challenged before the Supreme Court.The roll revision preceded the same West Bengal election after which Adhikari became Chief Minister.Leads into: Justice at two speedsConstitution leaves the appoin…1950-01-26Law Commission recommends a PM…2015-03-12Narada-accused TMC leader Suve…2020-12-19PLFS 2020-21: 28.9 per cent of…2022-06-14Supreme Court sets a PM, Oppos…2023-03-02Law drops the CJI from the EC…2023-12-282023 election commissioners la…2023-12-28INDIA bloc asks ECI to count p…2024-06-03BJP wins 240 Lok Sabha seats w…2024-06-04BJP wins 78 of 147 Odisha seat…2024-06-04BJP wins 48 of 90 Haryana seat…2024-10-08ECI rejects Congress complaint…2024-10-29BJP wins 132 of 288 Maharashtr…2024-11-23Centre amends 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You connect the dots.