India's Election Commission of India (ECI) is spearheading a series of electoral reforms while navigating intense scrutiny over its recent Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of rolls in Bihar. Over the past six months, the ECI has introduced 28 initiatives focused on transparency, voter ease, and technological strengthening - such as integrating death registry data and purging duplicate entries, issuing photo-ID cards to booth-level officers, capping voters per polling station, and facilitating mobile-enabled services for voters .

Simultaneously, the ECI has begun publishing names of those omitted in the SIR exercise, following a Supreme Court directive, aiming to enhance accountability and public access . However, the roll-revision has attracted fierce opposition. Protests, including the detention of Rahul Gandhi, accuse the EC of orchestrating mass disenfranchisement of vulnerable communities .

The challenge for the Commission lies in balancing reformist ambitions with maintaining public trust amid allegations of partisan bias.