The Election Commission is set to announce the schedule for the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in at least 10 states on Monday, officials said on Sunday.
The poll body, comprising Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, and Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi, will address a press conference at 4.15pm Monday, the EC said Sunday. The invitation for the presser didn’t mention the topic, but officials said it was for the SIR schedule.
The SIR could start from November 1 with five states/UTs where Assembly elections are due next year — Assam, Kerala, Puducherry, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal — and some other states, sources said.
States with “peculiar circumstances”, like where local body polls have been notified, could be left out for now, a source said.
On June 24, the EC had decided to conduct a nation-wide SIR, starting with Bihar since Assembly polls were due. The last intensive revision in the state was in 2003.
Unlike annual and pre-election Special Summary Revision (SSR) of electoral rolls, where additions and deletions are carried out, under the SIR, the rolls are made afresh, with all registered electors required to submit new enumeration forms. Due to computerisation of the electoral rolls, an intensive revision has not been carried out in about two decades.
“The Commission has noted that during the 20 years significant change in electoral roll has taken place due to additions and deletions on a large scale over this long period. Rapid urbanisation and frequent migration of population from one place to another on account of education, livelihood and other reasons have become a regular trend,” the EC had said in its June 24 order.
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It had said some electors register at a new place after shifting but don’t delete their names from the first place, leading to chances of repeated entries. The EC had also cited possible entry of foreigners into the rolls over the years as a reason for the exercise.
The EC’s June 24 order has been challenged in the Supreme Court. In Bihar, a total of 68.66 lakh names were deleted from the rolls during the SIR. In all, Bihar’s electoral roll published on September 30 shrunk by 6%.
The EC had asked for additional documents from all those in Bihar registered after 2003, when the last intensive revision was done, to establish eligibility, including citizenship. The June 24 order had included an indicative list of 11 documents, including caste, educational, birth certificates and passport, but not Aadhaar, ration card and Voter ID.
After the top court intervened, the EC accepted Aadhaar as a proof of identity not citizenship. Sources say the process for the rest of the states is likely to be along the lines of the Bihar order, with a similar list of documents and time-frames. Aadhaar would, however, be included as per the SC order. In Bihar, the enumeration period of one month was followed by one month for claims and objections. The entire exercise was conducted from June 25 to September 30.
