India, May 27 -- After the special intensive revision (SIR) was concluded in 13 states and Union Territories, elections conducted in five provinces and 58.6 million names deleted from the rolls, the validity of the controversial exercise has been upheld by the Supreme Court. In ruling that SIR furthered the constitutional imperative of free and fair elections, the apex court handed a major victory to the Election Commission of India (ECI). For the BJP, it can further propel its agenda of reversing demographic change and undocumented migration - though only a minuscule number of such people have been found in SIR till now - and for the Opposition, it represents a setback.

Three aspects merit notice. To begin with, the bench noted that alt...