The Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, which has led to the deletion of nearly six crore voters and triggered acrimony between the Opposition and the Election Commission, has completed one year. The poll roll clean-up exercise continues in 19 states and Union Territories.
Pilot Exercise and Initial Impact
The pilot SIR exercise was commenced in Bihar on June 24 last year, ahead of the Assembly polls. After the Bihar SIR, the voters' list was pruned by nearly 65 lakh amid allegations by the Opposition and activists that the poll authority was working at the behest of the BJP to disenfranchise citizens for want of documents.
Supreme Court Upholds SIR
In March, the Supreme Court unanimously upheld the constitutional validity of the EC's move to carry out SIR. The court's decision provided legal backing to the exercise, which had faced widespread criticism.
Linkage to Welfare Benefits
Individuals whose names were deleted during SIR are being excluded from state welfare benefits in West Bengal and Bihar. Following recent state assembly elections, both governments announced that voter roll purification data is being linked to social security schemes.
SIR in Education Curriculum
SIR is now part of the NCERT's Social Science textbook, describing it as an exercise to ensure that no eligible citizen is left out and no ineligible person is included in the electoral roll.
Second Phase: 12 States and Union Territories
In the second phase of the exercise, announced on October 27 last year, the combined voters' list in Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Kerala, Puducherry, the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Lakshadweep, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, and Goa was pruned by 10.2 per cent. The voter base before the clean-up across these states and Union territories stood at more than 50.99 crore. Post-exercise, the voters' list stands at 45.81 crore—a decline of over 5.18 crore. As many as 66,88,636 deceased electors were removed from the rolls, with the maximum of 25.47 lakh from Uttar Pradesh, followed by 24.16 lakh from poll-going West Bengal. Additionally, 63.16 lakh names were deleted following objections and adjudication during the SIR exercise. The final rolls for these states and Union territories were released on different dates, with Uttar Pradesh being the last to release the data.
Third Phase Underway
The third phase of SIR in 16 states and three Union territories—Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Haryana, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Odisha, Punjab, Sikkim, Tripura, Telangana, Uttarakhand, National Capital Territory of Delhi, Chandigarh, and Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu—involving 36.73 crore voters was rolled out on May 14 and would conclude later this year.
