A fresh controversy has erupted after a report flagged simmering discontent within the Election Commission (ECI) over the annual revision of electoral rolls to include 18-year-olds (Gen Z), which has been held up since 2024, with the Congress alleging the Prime Minister was scared of the youth. According to a report in the Economic Times, no special summary revision (SSR) of electoral rolls, an exercise through which newly eligible voters, including those turning 18, are enrolled, has been carried out after the 2024 cycle.
This year too, no announcement has been made for SSR for the 2026-27 cycle. The exercise is generally declared around the end of May. The report claimed it is due to a lack of consensus between the two election commissioners - Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi - and Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar.
The fresh revelation comes on the back of an Indian Express investigation that found the two Election Commissioners objected 14 times to various decisions taken by the poll panel in the past 10 months.
WHAT IS SPECIAL SUMMARY REVISION?
Unlike SIR, which is a more exhaustive process, SSR is a routine and annual process to update voter lists and add newly eligible voters. SSR is a key mechanism for adding those who have turned 18 to the electoral rolls.
The exercise allows those turning 18 in a particular year to apply on four dates - January 1, April 1, July 1 and October 1. This basically ensures that a person turning 18 during the year does not necessarily have to wait until next January to apply.
A look at the ECI website shows the last SSR exercise took place in 2024. In 2025, the SIR exercise was rolled out in Bihar. It was subsequently extended to other states. This had led to a break in the decades-long convention of yearly SSR across states - a mandate under Section 21 of the Representation of the People Act, 1950.
According to the ET report, CEC Gyanesh Kumar even sought legal advice on whether SSR was needed amid the ongoing SIR exercise.
This despite Sandhu and Joshi strongly advocating for the SSR exercise and urging the need to resume it. The two Election Commissioners said it was necessary to include those turning 18 each year in the electoral roll.
WHY IS THE GEN Z VOTE CRUCIAL?
They also argued that the SIR should not, by itself, displace the annual SSR exercise, as per the ET report. With the SSR exercise being stalled since 2024, thousands of Gen Z voters have been disenfranchised.
The report has given ammo to the Opposition to link the findings to its wider "vote chori" campaign against the Modi government and CEC Gyanesh Kumar.
It comes against the backdrop of the massive Gen Z protest in Delhi earlier this year over exam paper leaks. It sustained a one-month protest, spearheaded by the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) eventually forced Dharmendra Pradhan to resign as Education Minister.
The student protests have made the Gen Z demographic more politically active than before.
By the 2029 Lok Sabha polls, Gen Z is projected to represent one of India's largest voting groups - an electoral force that no political party can afford to overlook.
'MODI GOVT AFRAID OF GEN Z'
Reacting to the ET report, the Congress accused the BJP government and the CEC of conspiring to keep Gen Z voters off electoral rolls.
"The government is afraid of Gen Z because it is standing against Modi. In this panic, Modi has hatched a conspiracy with Gyanesh Kumar," the Congress said.
The party cited Uttar Pradesh and Goa, which will go to polls next year, as examples to sharpen its charge. With the annual revision still not announced, the Congress alleged that it could prevent newly eligible voters from being added to the rolls in UP and Goa.
"Uttar Pradesh and Goa are due to go to polls next year, but no SSR has been conducted there. As a result, new 18-year-old voters have been unable to get added to the electoral rolls," the party tweeted.
Pointing to Bihar, where SIR was completed last year, the Congress flagged that the SSR exercise had not resumed there as well. "Remember - Gen Z is keeping track of your crimes and will teach you a lesson," the Congress said.
Rajya Sabha MP Jairam Ramesh went a step further, calling it a ploy by the government after the youth protests.
"Seeing that Gen Z has hit the streets and is satirising him mercilessly but justifiably, he has deployed the CEC Gyanesh Kumar to keep them off the rolls," Ramesh tweeted.
He also drew a contrast between former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and Modi. "One PM got Parliament... to reduce the minimum age for voting from 21 years to 18 years. This was a PM who empowered the youth," he said.
The veteran Congress leader alleged that while one PM "gave Gen Z the vote", the other was seeking to "snatch it away through underhand means".
"There is another PM who has ensured that the Special Summary Revisions of electoral rolls have been stopped since 2024 to ensure that Gen Z voters are not enrolled. This is a PM who fears the youth having dashed their hopes and aspirations," he further said.
While the Election Commission has not reacted to the ET report, it has previously said that "differing views" were a normal part of deliberations. In a statement released after the Express investigation, the poll panel has said decisions taken by it over the past 10 months were unanimous.