PV Narasimha Rao once explained his method of government. "It is not that I do nothing," he said. "I think about it and decide nothing can be done." His admirers called it masterly inactivity. It suited a minority government in a season of crisis. It does not suit a constitutional court in a season of mass disenfranchisement.
For more than a year, the Supreme Court watched the Election Commission of India's (ECI) Special Intensive Revision (SIR) move from state to state. It thought about it a great deal. It decided, in effect, that little could be done. On Monday, 5 October, it stirred.
A bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi heard a petition against decisions taken under Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar. It refused to suspend him unheard. That was right. No court should remove a constitutional officer on the strength of newspaper reports. But it issued notice to the Union, the Commission, the CEC, and both Election Commissioners. The Chief Justice called the statutory framework mandatory. "If there is any violation, we will undo," he said.
Justice Bagchi said decisions found not to be unanimous could be struck down as ultra vires. The bench wants a clear and transparent answer.
Then came the sharpest moment. Counsel argued that the Commission had altered Form 6, the form through which new voters enrol. The form sits in a schedule to the Registration of Electors Rules. It cannot change unless the Rules change. The Chief Justice said plainly that the Court had approved no modified Form 6. The Court will now find out who made the change. The Commission had leaned on the Court's name. The Court has taken its name back.
The Court deserves credit for both steps. But notice is a beginning, not a remedy. The country expects speed. It has seen what delay costs. The Court upheld the Bihar SIR on 27 May 2026, six months after Bihar had voted and a government had taken office. Bengal went to the polls with its rolls shorn. Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Goa and Manipur vote early next year. A judgment that arrives after the ballots are counted is history, not justice.