Federalism

Elections in India are administered by a single national Commission but executed by state machinery: the Chief Electoral Officer of a state is a state government officer on deputation, and district electoral officers are collectors. The Commission directs; the state staffs and pays.

That split makes every contested electoral exercise a federal question as well as a legal one. A revision ordered from Delhi is carried out by officers whose careers sit with a state government that may be a political party to the outcome — which is why disputes over rolls so reliably become disputes about who controls the machinery.