Guwahati: Supreme Court Justice Ujjal Bhuyan has said that the right of an Indian citizen to vote is integral to the basic structure of the Constitution and that any process resulting in the mass disenfranchisement of citizens would be arbitrary and violate constitutional guarantees.

Delivering the valedictory address at the 19th NALSAR-Justice B.R. Sawhney Memorial Moot Court Competition 2026, Justice Bhuyan said the right to vote was a constitutional right flowing from Article 326, which provides for elections to the Lok Sabha and state legislative assemblies on the basis of adult suffrage.

He said the Constitution does not envisage two classes of citizens — those with voting rights and those without them — and that any process leading to the disenfranchisement of millions of citizens would undermine the constitutional scheme.

Justice Bhuyan did not explicitly refer to the Election Commission of India’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. His remarks, however, came amid the ongoing controversy over the exercise and concerns over the exclusion of eligible voters.

He said the right to vote was central to free and fair elections and formed part of the basic structure of the Constitution. According to him, the right of franchise was the means through which an ordinary citizen participated in the governance of the country.

Justice Bhuyan also stressed that Article 326 could not be altered in a manner that undermined adult suffrage and said no court could condone a process that violated the constitutional guarantee.

Right to vote is a constitutional right

Justice Bhuyan noted that the Supreme Court has held in several judgments that the right to vote is not a fundamental right. However, referring to the court’s judgment in People’s Union for Civil Liberties v. Union of India, he said the right to vote is a constitutional right originating from Article 326.

He said legislation could regulate the exercise of the right, but any such law must remain within the parameters of Articles 325 and 326.

Under Article 326, citizens aged 18 years and above are entitled to vote in Lok Sabha and Assembly elections, subject to constitutional disqualifications.

Justice Bhuyan also linked universal adult suffrage to the country’s freedom struggle and said Article 326 gives meaning to the equality principle under Article 14. The right to vote, he said, ensures that people across economic and social hierarchies have an equal say in governance.

Voters cannot be deleted without notice, hearing

Justice Bhuyan further highlighted safeguards governing the deletion of names from electoral rolls under the Representation of the People Act, 1950.

He referred to Supreme Court guidelines requiring notice and an opportunity of hearing before an elector’s name is deleted. Citing the court’s judgment in Lal Babu Hussain v. Electoral Registration Officer, he said an enrolled voter’s name cannot be deleted without notice and hearing, except in the case of a dead voter.

He also referred to the Supreme Court’s 2023 judgment in Anoop Baranwal v. Union of India, which linked the right to vote with Article 326 and recognised the right to be a voter and to vote as foundational to free and fair elections.

Justice Bhuyan said the right to vote or to be included in the electoral roll could not be separated from a citizen’s status as an Indian citizen. Any process resulting in wholesale disenfranchisement, he said, would violate Articles 14 and 326 of the Constitution.

The remarks came against the backdrop of the Supreme Court’s May 27, 2026 judgment on challenges to the SIR exercise in several states, including Bihar and West Bengal. The court had declined to stay the exercise and subsequently upheld the SIR as well as the Election Commission’s power to conduct it.