“SIR” marks one year

It has been one year since the Election Commission started the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process for the in-depth verification of electoral rolls. It has been proven that this process is extremely important for the unity and integrity of the country. A pilot phase of this campaign was launched in Bihar on 24 June 2025, ahead of the Bihar Legislative Assembly elections.

As a result of this process, approximately six crore names have been removed from the electoral rolls across the country so far. This campaign to rectify errors in the electoral rolls is still underway in 19 states and Union Territories. Around 65 lakh names were removed from the electoral rolls in Bihar after the initial implementation of this campaign in that state.

At that time, the opposition, especially Yuvraj Rahul Gandhi, created a massive uproar. Rahul Gandhi, as usual, alleged amid much noise that the campaign was launched to delete the names of minority voters, particularly Muslim voters who oppose the Bharatiya Janata Party. But the interesting point is that the voters whose names were deleted did not file any complaint with the Election Commission. Not even a single voter approached the Supreme Court or High Court with a claim regarding the deletion of his or her name from the electoral rolls, despite having all the documents sought by the Election Commission.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah has time and again clarified that deleting the names of infiltrators from the electoral rolls and going one step forward and deporting them from the country, is the central government’s main objective. This entire system will work to ensure that not a single genuine citizen of the country is left out from electoral rolls after this intensive revision and that illegal infiltrators are removed in a systematic manner. Since the process has been initiated with such a clear policy, several parties and leaders who support infiltrators are panic-stricken. Some opponents had approached the court against this process.

However, the Supreme Court, in its recent judgment, clarified that the Election Commission has the authority to conduct the “SIR” process. The Supreme Court has also dismissed all objections to the revision of the electoral rolls. Looking at the comprehensive nature of this process, there is hardly any scope to say that anyone’s rights have been denied. All the necessary precautions such as issuing notices, hearing the citizens’ side, recording objections, taking action on them and providing the right to appeal have been taken during the SIR process. There was no arbitrariness in the documents sought for inclusion of names in the electoral rolls. The omission of a large number of names was obvious since this process had not been carried out for several decades. Even if a name has featured in the earlier electoral roll, it does not mean that it will remain after SIR verification.

The Supreme Court, in its judgment, clearly stated that it is essential for electoral rolls to be clean in order to ensure free and fair elections in the country. The interesting point is that Rahul Gandhi had held the Election Commission responsible for similar errors in the electoral rolls. He also held several press conferences and used PowerPoint presentations, etc to show that there were numerous errors in the electoral rolls. However, he vehemently objected to the process initiated to correct those same errors.

Duplicate entries, incomplete details of migrant voters and names of deceased persons have continued to remain in the lists as electoral rolls in the country have not been revised for the past 20 years. Many voters have registered their names in new locations due to large-scale migration from rural areas to cities as a result of urbanization. But, in a number of cases, names have not been deleted from previous locations.

An appeal has been made to political parties to appoint Booth Level Agents at every polling station in order to make the electoral rolls more accurate and transparent. This means that the Election Commission is implementing this campaign with cooperation from all political parties.

How many party workers of the Congress, Uddhav Thackeray’s faction, and Sharad Pawar’s faction have participated in this campaign and appointed Booth Level Agents?? It is important for the opposition parties to participate in this process to ensure that it will be flawless. But shouldn’t they at least have that much organizational strength left for it? The existing party workers should show the willpower and perseverance to participate in this process.

During this process, Booth Level Officers go door to door to verify voter information. Election Commission officials (BLOs) personally visit homes to confirm whether a voter still resides at the same address. They get the necessary forms filled by voters in case of change in name or other details.

Names of deceased persons or migrated individuals are removed from the electoral rolls. The Election Commission has sent letters to all political parties requesting them to send their representatives for this process. It is necessary for the opposition to respond to this appeal and participate in this process for the sake of healthy democracy. But the real question is whether the UBT, Congress and Sharad Pawar faction have that much moral strength left.

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