EC yet to decide SIR rollout plan
The Election Commission of India may conduct a nationwide revision of electoral rolls by year-end, pending Supreme Court directions.
New Delhi: The Election Commission of India (ECI) might roll out a nationwide special intensive revision of electoral rolls before the end of the year but has not decided yet if the exercise will be conducted simultaneously or in a staggered manner, at least five officials who attended the meeting said on Wednesday.
The matter was extensively discussed during a high-level conference of Chief Electoral Officers (CEOs) from all states and Union Territories, held in New Delhi on Wednesday at the India International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Management (IIIDEM). Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, along with Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi, presided over the session.
According to officials familiar with the matter, no final decision was taken as the case is still being heard by the Supreme Court. Officials said ECI is likely to wait for a conclusive court direction before moving forward with a definitive timeline. At least five officials who attended the meeting confirmed to HT that the SIR might be announced before the year ends.
“A presentation on the strategies, constraints and best practices adopted was made by the CEO Bihar so that the CEOs of the rest of the country learn from their experiences,” ECI said in a statement. “The CEOs gave detailed presentations on the number of Electors, qualifying date of last SIR and Electoral Roll in their respective State/UT as per the last completed SIR. The CEOs also presented the status of digitisation and uploading of the electoral roll after the previous SIR on the state/UT CEO website.”
The controversial exercise first kicked off in Bihar in July and the draft roll, announced on August 1, excluded 6.5 million names. The final roll is set to be announced by the end of the month, ahead of assembly polls scheduled later this year. The SIR has garnered a political controversy too, with the Opposition alleging that the exercise was aimed at disenfranchising marginalised groups and the election body saying it was meant to remove undocumented immigrants.
All states and UTs were represented at the conference, with Nagaland being the sole exception. The conference, which lasted more than eight hours, aimed at reviewing state-level preparedness for what will be the largest electoral revision exercise ahead of a busy election calendar next year. In his inaugural remarks, CEC Gyanesh Kumar repeatedly emphasised the importance of SIR, underscoring that the exercise must ensure the removal of ineligible names and inclusion of all eligible voters. “No one who is not a citizen of India, who is not 18 years of age or above, or who is enrolled in multiple places should remain a voter in that area. That is the importance of this exercise,” he said, calling for greater public awareness around the SIR process.
The commission reviewed multiple facets of electoral roll management, including digitisation, polling station rationalisation, and staff deployment. A session was also dedicated to the administrative and budgetary requirements for the exercise. CEOs of each state and UT made presentations on the number of Booth Level Officers (BLOs) currently appointed in their jurisdictions, the number required for the SIR, as well as budgetary allocations and gaps. The commission also reviewed the status of field-level officers.
States were invited to suggest additional documents that could be accepted during voter enumeration, although most officials agreed that the existing list of 11 documents was adequate. This comes in the backdrop of the Supreme Court’s recent intervention directing ECI to accept Aadhaar as the 12th identity document for inclusion in electoral rolls.
Senior Congress leader Abhishek Singhvi questioned why Aadhaar, which is required for nearly all official transactions, was excluded from the SIR in the first place.
West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee said, “SIR isn’t possible before elections in 2-3 months. It will take at least 2-3 years. It can’t be done in a hurry to satisfy the BJP. ECI has to see the democratic system is strong and safe and sound. They can’t release policies as per BJP. The matter is pending before the court. Three former Election Commissioners have expressed their views very strongly.”
