Ecostani: Timing of SIR in Bihar raises questions over fairness in electoral process

Political parties and experts are apprehensive about the exercise claiming that SIR is aimed at disenfranchising people from the deprived sections

The Election Commission of India (ECI) has initiated the Special Intensive Review (SIR) to collate a new electoral roll for Bihar, ahead of the assembly polls slated for October-November. The 2003 SIR is the base for the complex exercise, which, until now, has never been held in just three months before an election.

The commission’s SIR of electoral rolls kicked off on Sunday across Bihar’s 38 districts. (Representative file photo)

In SIR, booth level officers (BLO) visit every home in the state, something similar to a census, with the objective to find out whether a person willing to enrol in the voters’ list resides there. Unlike the census, the BLOs will seek documents to prove that the person was born in India and is not an illegal migrant.

As per the ECI guidelines issued on June 24, each voter will have to submit an enrolment form to the BLO, who will then forward them to the electoral registration officer (ERO), mandated under law to prepare a draft electoral roll. Those whose names were there in 2003 SIR, will have to submit the form with a screenshot of their name in the two-decade old SIR.

Others will have to submit one of the 11 documents listed by the election commission to prove that they were born in India along with enrolment form for being considered inclusion in the rolls. These include birth certificate, matriculation certificate and land record.

On Saturday, the commission clarified that proof of citizenship is required only for those who were not enrolled in 2003 SIR, thus enabling 4.9 crore of total 7.9 crore voters to just submit only the enrolment form. Each of these people will receive an SMS with the 2003 SIR enrolment number.

It said that residents should submit forms based on the self-declaration mechanism without documentary proof at the draft stage, as it seeks to balance stated goals of removing illegal immigrants but avoiding mass disenfranchisement of legitimate voters.

“Even without documents, if the enumeration form is tick-marked, and has basic details, the name will be included in the draft. No names are being deleted at this stage,” said a person aware of the matter within the ECI. He added later, a complete hearing will be given to the people who don’t have the documents.

On Saturday the commission also allowed family tree certificates as acceptable proof. “If proof of place of birth records are missing, then we will push for a family register or family tree certificate which one can get locally,” the ECI official cited above said.

The commission’s SIR of electoral rolls kicked off on Sunday across Bihar’s 38 districts, with close to 98,000 BLOs conducting door-to-door surveys of the state’s 77.2 million voters over the next month. To streamline the exercise, the commission has printed nearly 160 million pre-filled enumeration forms—more than double Bihar’s 77.2 million voters—each carrying unique QR codes to prevent misplacement or errors.

Political parties and experts are apprehensive about the exercise claiming that SIR is aimed at disenfranchising people from the deprived sections, many of whom will not have the documents to prove their birth in India.

In 2020, only two-thirds of the new births were registered in Bihar; the rate is even lower for earlier years. Liberal estimates indicate that not more than half of Bihar’s voter population will have a birth certificate, a key document needed for enrolment under SIR.

Even though matric certificate is considered proof of date of birth, according to the Bihar caste survey conducted in 2022, only 14.27 % of the state’s population had completed matric level education. The permanent residency certificate or domicile certificate is with less than 10% of the state’s population. The land records, which are also acceptable, are in the process of digitisation for the past one year and many records are under legal dispute.

While getting the documents for around 3 crore people would be a challenge in Bihar in just 25 days, the timing of the SIR also raises questions.

The first is why wasn’t the exercise planned earlier as the ECI knew that the Bihar polls have to be conducted in October-November 2025.

As per retired senior officials, the 2003 SIR took almost two years and this time, the commission plans to complete the SIR in 25 days and publish the final rolls by September 30 so that the polls can be announced in October 2025.

The 90,000 BLOs will have to upload around 7.9 crore enumeration forms on the ECI’s electoral roll system in these 25 days and the EROs will have to go through them and prepare every assembly constituency-wise draft electoral roll before the end of August.

The draft roll will have to be published online and provided to political parties so that people can file objections in case their name is excluded from the rolls. The EROs will have to conduct an inquiry on each objection and decide within 15 days.

The second question is whether the error free rolls can be published by the end of September and whether political parties will have enough time to submit objections to the rolls and get it rectified for free and fair polls amid selection of candidates and campaign.

The SIR should be initiated at least a year before scheduled elections to ensure a level playing field for all political parties -- a cornerstone for electoral democracy -- and ensure that all citizens can exercise their Constitutional right to vote.