When India’s First Chief Election Commissioner Sukumar Sen Deleted Lakhs of Women From Voter Rolls

India’s first general election in 1951-52 was an unprecedented democratic exercise. While the Election Commission was preparing electoral rolls for the newly independent country, officials encountered a social practice that created a major problem: a large number of women were reluctant to disclose their own names.

Instead, electoral entries in parts of northern India identified women through their relationships with male family members — for example, as “A’s mother” or “B’s wife.” According to the Election Commission’s historical account, first Chief Election Commissioner Sukumar Sen refused to accept such descriptions as sufficient identification.

Why were women’s names missing?

The issue was linked to social customs prevalent in several regions. Many women were traditionally discouraged from openly stating their names to strangers and were instead identified through their husbands, fathers or sons.

The Election Commission’s official history records that Sen regarded the practice as an outdated custom and directed officials to ensure that women were enrolled under their actual names.

Officials subsequently launched awareness efforts and provided additional opportunities for women to disclose their names and correct the electoral rolls.

Nearly 28 lakh entries were deleted

Despite these efforts, not every woman re-registered under her own name before the first election. The official report on India’s first general election recorded that, out of nearly 80 million women voters, approximately 2.8 million failed to disclose their proper names and the corresponding entries were deleted from the rolls.

Most of these cases were reported from Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Bharat, Rajasthan and Vindhya Pradesh. The deletion was therefore not described as a decision to deny women the right to vote on the basis of gender; rather, it resulted from the Commission’s insistence that an elector’s own name form part of the voter’s identity.

A question of identity, not eligibility

The Constitution had established universal adult suffrage, giving eligible citizens the right to vote without discrimination based on gender, caste, wealth or education. The challenge faced by the Election Commission was therefore how to translate that constitutional principle into accurate electoral rolls across a vast and socially diverse country.

Historical accounts note that Sen’s position was that women could not remain on the rolls merely under descriptions such as “wife of” or “mother of.” The Commission sought to have their individual names recorded instead.

The effort continued after the first election

The issue did not end with the deletion of the entries. Historical accounts say efforts were made to ensure that women were subsequently enrolled using their own names.

The episode highlights one of the lesser-known administrative challenges behind India’s first election. Preparing electoral rolls involved not only compiling millions of names but also overcoming social customs, illiteracy, displacement and the enormous logistical difficulties of conducting elections in a newly independent country.

Who was Sukumar Sen?

Sukumar Sen was an Indian Civil Service officer who became India’s first Chief Election Commissioner in 1950. He served until 1958 and oversaw the country’s first Lok Sabha election as well as elections to state assemblies.

The first general election was held between October 1951 and February 1952, involving hundreds of parliamentary constituencies and millions of voters. Sen later also assisted Sudan in organising its first parliamentary elections based on universal adult suffrage.

The story of the women whose names were temporarily removed from the rolls illustrates how the creation of India’s electoral system involved negotiating between a new constitutional commitment to universal citizenship and deeply rooted social practices.