Now Reading: Disenfranchising millions arbitrary, says Supreme Court judge
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Disenfranchising millions arbitrary, says Supreme Court judge
Supreme Court Justice Ujjal Bhuyan on Sunday, 4 October 2026, said any process that disenfranchises millions of Indian citizens is ‘intrinsically arbitrary’ and a negation of the constitutional order. Delivering the valedictory address at the 19th NALSAR-Justice BR Sawhney Memorial Moot Court Competition, Justice Bhuyan said no amount of ‘whataboutery’ could justify taking away voting rights.
Justice Bhuyan said the right to vote is central to the basic structure of the Constitution. He stressed that the Constitution does not envisage two classes of citizens, those with voting rights and those without. He said no court can condone such a process, and that Article 326, which guarantees adult suffrage, cannot be tinkered with.
Indian Opinion Analysis
Bar & Bench and LiveLaw both report Justice Ujjal Bhuyan's strongly worded critique of mass disenfranchisement verbatim, with near-identical quotes. Neither outlet adds editorial comment, both frame the speech as a standalone judicial pronouncement. LiveLaw, however, explicitly links the remarks to the Election Commission's Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, noting Justice Bhuyan did not name the exercise but that his speech comes amid controversy over it. Bar & Bench omits this context entirely, keeping the address abstract. The balanced reading is that Justice Bhuyan's broad constitutional language, especially his invocation of Articles 14 and 326 and the basic structure doctrine, was deliberately timed and aimed at the SIR process, even if he avoided naming it. Both outlets agree that no court or authority can condone such disenfranchisement.
Coverage: 2 sources, 2 neutral
Sources (2): barandbench.com (neutral report), livelaw.in (neutral report)
This brief was synthesised by AI from the 2 sources linked above, so one read covers every framing they carry. Methodology and corrections.
