Should the right of an Indian citizen to vote be elevated to the status of a fundamental right? Yes, contends lawyer Kartikey Singh in this incisive, well-substantiated article published in The Hindu (September 28, 2026): “Elevating the 'right to vote' to fundamental status would not diminish the EC's authority to purify rolls; it would instead subject that authority to the heightened standard of judicial review reserved for fundamental rights, ensuring that the drive to centralise electoral administration is always weighed against, rather than allowed to override, the citizen's claim to be counted. In a democracy where software now mediates the relationship between the voter and the ballot, the constitutional status of the 'right to vote' can no longer remain a matter of legislative grace.”

Read “Deep rot,” today’s lead editorial in The Hindu: thehindu.com/opinion/editori… Electoral fraud is not uncommon in electoral democracies. But the SIR (Special Intensive Revision) conducted by the Election Commission of India under the authoritarian and arrogant reign of Gyanesh Kumar belongs to a special species. It is now beyond dispute that the SIR done in several States, and worst of all in West Bengal, has inflicted a grievous and seemingly irreparable wound on India’s electoral democracy. The revelation that Chief Election Commissioner Kumar pushed through decisions related to the SIR without the knowledge, let alone consent, of the two other Election Commissioners shows arbitrariness and lawlessness of the worst kind. The Indian Express must be commended for its investigation, which has exposed how deep and how high the rot has gone into the electoral system. Unfortunately, when the scandal of the ongoing SIR was taken to the Supreme Court of India in the expectation that it would act to uphold the constitutional guarantee of universal adult franchise, the highest court in the land failed the big test. Gyanesh Kumar must resign. An impeachment motion to remove the CEC is unlikely to make headway, given the numbers in the Lok Sabha. If Gyanesh Kumar, with the backing of the Union government, decides to brazen it out, mass democratic protest will be the only way to force him out.