After Bihar, Simultaneous Voter Roll Revision To Be Done Across India: Sources

Days after the Bihar roll-out, the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise, an intensive re-verification of electoral rolls, will now be carried out nationwide simultaneously by the Election Commission, sources have told NDTV.

No official date has been announced yet as to when the mammoth exercise will begin, sources said.  

Earlier today, the poll body met chief electoral officers of all states and Union Territories to discuss the modalities of the pan-India SIR exercise.

During the conference, the election body reviewed presentations from states on the number of electors, qualifying dates of the last SIR, and the digitisation and uploading status of electoral rolls. 

The CEOs also reported on mapping of electors with earlier rolls and rationalisation of polling stations to ensure that no polling station exceeds the 1,200-elector limit. 

The Commission stressed uniform implementation of these measures across the country.

A detailed presentation was made by CEO Bihar, highlighting strategies, challenges, and best practices from the state's SIR exercise, which will serve as a learning model for other states. 

Some states informed the Commission that they are fully prepared for the upcoming revision, while others pointed out challenges faced during previous exercises. 

The Commission also reviewed the appointment and training status of people who will carry out the exercise. 

The poll body had announced its decision to conduct SIR in the entire country "for the discharge of its constitutional mandate to protect the integrity of electoral rolls"  through its order on June 24 this year.

With Bihar due for polls, the top poll body rolled out the exercise in the state first, announcing that the schedule for the rest of the country would be issued "separately in due course".

The Bihar exercise was not without problems, with the Supreme Court having to direct the poll body to include Aadhaar in the list of 'indicative documents', any of which can be submitted as proof of identity to seek inclusion or exclusion from the voter rolls.

Nearly 65 lakh voters out of a total 7.24 crore in the state were excluded from the draft rolls published on August 1. 

According to the poll body, the gap of 65 lakh electors is attributed to 22 lakh deceased individuals, 36 lakh who have either permanently shifted from Bihar or were not found, and the remaining 7 lakh who were enrolled in multiple places.

After the publication of the draft electoral rolls, their digital and physical copies were shared with all political parties and put on the EC website for anyone to see, said the poll body.

The deadline to file claims to include names and file objections to exclude names from the rolls ended on September 1.