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New Delhi: A lawyers’ association launched barely two months ago has constituted a five-member panel of retired Supreme Court and High Court judges to examine the Election Commission of India’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.
The Lawyers’ Association for Constitution (LAFC), which came into existence on August 15, 2026, announced the formation of the panel on October 2. It has been named the ‘Independent Commission of Former Judges on the Special Intensive Revision of Electoral Rolls’.
LAFC was inaugurated at Keralam House in New Delhi in the presence of several lawyers, including senior advocates C U Singh, Nandita Rao, Amit Anand Tiwari and Shadan Farasat. Former judges Amar Sharan and Anjana Prakash also addressed the gathering.
The association describes itself as a non-partisan platform committed to constitutional values. At its inaugural meeting, it adopted resolutions criticising Bar Council of India Chairman Manan Kumar Mishra over the controversy surrounding NALSAR graduates and demanded his resignation.
The SIR panel is chaired by former Supreme Court judge Madan B Lokur, who previously served as Chief Justice of the Gauhati and Andhra Pradesh High Courts. He retired from the Supreme Court in December 2018.
Another member, Justice Ananga Kumar Patnaik, served as Chief Justice of the Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh High Courts before his elevation to the Supreme Court in November 2009. He retired in June 2014.
Interestingly, Lokur and Patnaik had earlier participated in the ‘No-SIR: National Convention on Defending Universal Adult Franchise’ held at the Constitution Club in Delhi on December 20, 2025. The event was organised by Bharat Jodo Abhiyan, the People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) and the National Alliance of People’s Movements (NAPM).
Both former judges were part of a jury which expressed reservations over the manner, method and motivation behind the SIR exercise. The jury subsequently called for the exercise to be stopped until it was reconsidered and reworked.
The other members of the present panel are former Jammu and Kashmir High Court Chief Justice Badar Durrez Ahmad, former Delhi High Court judge Rekha Sharma and former Patna High Court judge Anjana Prakash.
Ahmad served as a Delhi High Court judge from 2002 before becoming Chief Justice of the Jammu and Kashmir High Court in 2017. Sharma, who entered the Delhi Higher Judicial Service in 1988, retired from the High Court in 2011. Prakash served on the Patna High Court Bench from 2009 until 2016.
The panel is receiving legal assistance from several lawyers, including Kapil Sibal, Prashant Bhushan, Raju Ramachandran, Rebecca Mammen John, Warisha Farasat and Vrinda Grover.
On October 15, the panel held its first public hearing at Jawahar Bhawan, Delhi. Justices Patnaik, Sharma and Prakash heard representations from voters alleging wrongful deletion of their names from electoral rolls. Lokur and Ahmad were absent.
The Election Commission was invited to nominate a senior officer to attend the proceedings. The panel proposes to hold further public hearings, examine electoral data and release its findings by December 2026.
Although described as a commission, the body has been constituted by a private lawyers’ association and carries no statutory powers under the Commissions of Inquiry Act, 1952. Its findings will therefore have no binding legal effect.
