New Delhi: The annual summary revision of electoral rolls, an exercise that facilitates the inclusion of 18-year-olds into the rolls, has been delayed past its May-June announcement deadline for the year 2026-27 due to a lack of consensus between the chief election commissioner (CEC), Gyanesh Kumar, and the two election commissioners, a report by the Economic Times says.This adds weight to the bombshell investigation by the Indian Express revealed that election commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi objected on record at least 14 times between October 2025 and August 2026 to decisions that were taken without their knowledge or consent.The final electoral roll which is conventionally published in January is facing an extraordinary delay, with thousands of ‘Gen Z’ not yet included in the voter list. Importantly, the summary special revision (SSR) has been stalled since January 2024 as the special intensive revision (SIR) exercise had been rolled out in Bihar in 2025. This had led to a break in the decades-long convention of yearly SSR across states, despite Sandhu and Joshi reportedly having “strongly advocat[ed] and urging the need” to resume the practice, ET notes.Sandhu and Joshi’s stance on SSRAs per the ET report, election commissioners Sandhu and Joshi have made their stance on the matter clear. They have argued that completion of the SIR should not, by itself, displace the annual SSR practice. Citing the ECI’s own electoral-roll manual for SSR, they have maintained that it is necessary to bring newly eligible voters onto the rolls.Also read: EC Ducks, Tries to Make Light of Serious Questions Emerging From Revelations of Differences in CommissionThe disagreement within the ECI even prompted the CEC to seek legal view, following which Sandhu and Joshi are learnt to have reiterated their position in favour of reinstating the SSR, reports ET.Thousands of eligible Gen Z still disenfranchisedThe annual revision is also an opportunity for the ECI to update the photo electoral rolls and identify discrepancies, mismatches and other errors in the voter database. To ensure that young citizens do not have to wait an entire year merely because they turned 18 after the January 1 cut-off, three additional qualifying dates had been introduced: April 1, July 1 and October 1. Thus, SSR is a time-sensitive exercise with the objective of securing universal adult franchise for all eligible at the earliest possible opportunity.This timeline for the 2026-27 cycle, however, has already been disrupted. The SSR exercise is generally declared around the end of May, following which state chief electoral officers commence preparations. Pre-revision activities continue for two to three months before draft electoral rolls are issued, leaving time for claims and objections.Without announcement itself pending, the subsequent stages are facing an extreme delay, prompting questions over whether the final rolls can continue to follow the conventional January publication trend. This consideration becomes increasingly important for states were elections are scheduled to take place in 2027.The issue becomes pressing in states currently undergoing the SIR exercise, including Uttarakhand and Punjab. Meanwhile, states which have long completed the intensive revision, like Bihar, are yet to undergo a further roll revision, leaving thousands of Gen Z disenfranchised.Implications beyond the addition of new votersThe reported differences have also begun to affect internal administrative matters within the ECI, according to ET. Annual performance reports of close to 50 officials and deputy election commissioners allegedly remain pending because the three members of the commission have not signed them collectively.Moreover, several officials have reportedly approached the CEC and the other two election commissioners to seek clearance of their reports. Some of these reports, as per ET, remain delayed even though the concerns officials have taken up positions elsewhere.Incidentally, the reporter of the ET piece has noted that they received a notice in the special intensive revision due to ‘name mismatch.’After all this EC reportage, poetic justice 😃Have just received SIR notice on name mismatch 🤷🏻♀️ pic.twitter.com/GRG5BMVgDa— Anubhuti Vishnoi (@anubhutivishnoi) September 24, 2026For our full coverage on the SIR and the issues it has brought to citizens, click here.