That the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of Electoral Rolls (ER) months before Bihar election has caused discomfort among some political parties is understandable. Parties have been eliciting loyalty from electoral rolls, valid through the years with incremental corrections, mostly through annual revisions. In Bihar, SIR is underway after over two decades. Enumeration, house-to house verification and documentation are discerning parts of the exercise. About one lakh Booth Level Officers (BLOs) will be in action besides another one lakh volunteers. Countrywide SIR is to follow in phases.
Special but Legal
Under Article 324, the first mandate vested in the Election Commission (EC) is 'superintendence, direction and control of the preparation of ERs.' Reference to conduct of election comes only next. Article 326 lays down conditions for registration as a voter. Section 16 of the Representation of the People Act, 1950, lists disqualifications for registration, starting with anyone who is not a citizen of India.
Revisions are pathological checks in the life cycle of ERs. Annual revisions take care of the flux in the life of citizen-elector-voter: coming of voting age, death, migration and the like. Under the RP Act, revision of ERs is mandatory before every election. Stated objective of SIR is 'to ensure that the names of all eligible citizens are included in the ERs to enable them to exercise their franchise and no ineligible voter is included'. Purpose of an annual or pre-election revision and intensive revision is similar except that SIR suggests higher urgency and invasive scrutiny.
Disputes have Rolled on
Recent elections have witnessed allegations about unwarranted additions/ deletions in ERs. Maharashtra voter list is being blamed even after seven months of a new government in office and after election managers repeatedly explained the stoutness of the process. Last elections in Haryana and Delhi witnessed sufficient skirmishes over ERs. Another declared objective of the current SIR is to 'introduce complete transparency in the process of addition/deletion.' Political parties can keep a close eye on any 'discrepancy' and object to 'wrongs' by appointing booth-level agents and making appeals to the district magistrate and the Chief Electoral Officer. Parties in Bihar have appointed over 1.5 lakh such agents to 'protect their interests.'
An estimated 300 million migrants on the ERs is a national concern. A sincere effort by ECI in 2023 to activate voting rights of these migrants through technology-based remote voting missed political consensus. SIR could partly address this problem, but whether it stregthens franchise is to be seen .
Tough, Sensitive but Possible
Two questions need to be addressed. First is about delivery against deadline about which concerns are legitimate. Bihar has about 7.9 crore electors, of which 4.96 crore were validated in the intensive revision of 2003, and do not have to submit any documents. India's election machinery has built an ER of about a billion and achieved a quantum jump to over 65% turnout in the last three national elections, a vindication of its capacity to mass mobilise. About 90% of Enumeration Forms have been distributed in Bihar and 5% collected back. A new House in Bihar is due only towards November-end, giving election managers better elbow room.
The other worry is if ordinary citizens in the hinterland can meet the compliance of enumeration. Hopefully, officials in the field exercise empathy to facilitate easy submission of records so that fears of disenfranchisement are kept at bay. ECI will be expected to exercise significant flexibility and also bolster its citizen outreach.
Optimise the Process
Perhaps discussions over SIR would not have been that sharp if there were not certain existing precipitations around the issue of citizenship; the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) of 2019, National Register of Citizens (NRC) and National Population Register in the backdrop and Census 2026-27 and delimitation in near horizon. The SIR exercise that will include authentication citizenship can become a database for other key counts, though essentially unrelated.
SIR is among the implied mandates Election Commission has, and appears on firm legal footing. But this alone cannot be the whole story. Citizens and political parties do have the highest stakes in electors' list. Any erosion of trust in this triangle can complicate matters for India's electoral democracy. The call is for all three sets to make the best out of SIR churning. Bihar is test case for rest of the country.
The writer is former Director General, ECI
(Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this column are that of the writer. The facts and opinions expressed here do not reflect the views of www.economictimes.com)
Special but Legal
Under Article 324, the first mandate vested in the Election Commission (EC) is 'superintendence, direction and control of the preparation of ERs.' Reference to conduct of election comes only next. Article 326 lays down conditions for registration as a voter. Section 16 of the Representation of the People Act, 1950, lists disqualifications for registration, starting with anyone who is not a citizen of India.
Revisions are pathological checks in the life cycle of ERs. Annual revisions take care of the flux in the life of citizen-elector-voter: coming of voting age, death, migration and the like. Under the RP Act, revision of ERs is mandatory before every election. Stated objective of SIR is 'to ensure that the names of all eligible citizens are included in the ERs to enable them to exercise their franchise and no ineligible voter is included'. Purpose of an annual or pre-election revision and intensive revision is similar except that SIR suggests higher urgency and invasive scrutiny.
Disputes have Rolled on
Recent elections have witnessed allegations about unwarranted additions/ deletions in ERs. Maharashtra voter list is being blamed even after seven months of a new government in office and after election managers repeatedly explained the stoutness of the process. Last elections in Haryana and Delhi witnessed sufficient skirmishes over ERs. Another declared objective of the current SIR is to 'introduce complete transparency in the process of addition/deletion.' Political parties can keep a close eye on any 'discrepancy' and object to 'wrongs' by appointing booth-level agents and making appeals to the district magistrate and the Chief Electoral Officer. Parties in Bihar have appointed over 1.5 lakh such agents to 'protect their interests.'
An estimated 300 million migrants on the ERs is a national concern. A sincere effort by ECI in 2023 to activate voting rights of these migrants through technology-based remote voting missed political consensus. SIR could partly address this problem, but whether it stregthens franchise is to be seen .
Tough, Sensitive but Possible
Two questions need to be addressed. First is about delivery against deadline about which concerns are legitimate. Bihar has about 7.9 crore electors, of which 4.96 crore were validated in the intensive revision of 2003, and do not have to submit any documents. India's election machinery has built an ER of about a billion and achieved a quantum jump to over 65% turnout in the last three national elections, a vindication of its capacity to mass mobilise. About 90% of Enumeration Forms have been distributed in Bihar and 5% collected back. A new House in Bihar is due only towards November-end, giving election managers better elbow room.
The other worry is if ordinary citizens in the hinterland can meet the compliance of enumeration. Hopefully, officials in the field exercise empathy to facilitate easy submission of records so that fears of disenfranchisement are kept at bay. ECI will be expected to exercise significant flexibility and also bolster its citizen outreach.
Optimise the Process
Perhaps discussions over SIR would not have been that sharp if there were not certain existing precipitations around the issue of citizenship; the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) of 2019, National Register of Citizens (NRC) and National Population Register in the backdrop and Census 2026-27 and delimitation in near horizon. The SIR exercise that will include authentication citizenship can become a database for other key counts, though essentially unrelated.
SIR is among the implied mandates Election Commission has, and appears on firm legal footing. But this alone cannot be the whole story. Citizens and political parties do have the highest stakes in electors' list. Any erosion of trust in this triangle can complicate matters for India's electoral democracy. The call is for all three sets to make the best out of SIR churning. Bihar is test case for rest of the country.
The writer is former Director General, ECI
(Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this column are that of the writer. The facts and opinions expressed here do not reflect the views of www.economictimes.com)
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