"No Paper Work": What's New In SIR 2.0

The Phase 2 of the nationwide rollout of the Special Intensive Revision or SIR of voter rolls would require no paperwork. The user-friendly format, sources said, has been among the tweaks made in the process because of the lessons from the SIR project in Bihar.

While announcing the dates for the second phase of SIR this evening, Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar said within a month of filling out the enumeration form, if a voter's name doesn't match the old and new voter lists, they will only need to submit one of 12 documents - the 11 suggested during the Bihar SIR and now, Aadhaar.

In contrast, voters in Bihar had to submit one of the 11 documents to prove eligibility along with their enumeration forms. 

The CEC said approximately 60 to 70 per cent of voters' names have been identified during the mapping of the old and new voter lists. 
Voters can also check their names themselves by visiting the Election Commission's website.

Only those whose names and their parents' names do not appear in the old and new voter lists, will need to submit paperwork to have their names included.

Taking a cue from Bihar, Aadhaar cards have also been added to the list of documents. A scanning option has also been provided so the voters can submit soft copies of papers from the comfort of their homes. 

The Chief Election Commissioner said elections are scheduled for Assam next year, but there will be no SIR there since the state has different citizenship rules.

A separate date will be announced for Assam rolls revision, he said.
SIR 2.0 will be separate from Bihar because the duplication problem will no longer exist in the new states. De-Duplication software is used to check for the duplication of Electors in the electoral roll. 

If any elector has two voter id cards then the duplication software can weed them out.

Now Commission is saying that they do not require the de-duplication software because the names of voters will be removed if they find any duplicate enumeration forms. 

The Chief Election Commission has requested the voters not to submit two enumeration forms. 

During the hearing of the SIR issue in the Supreme Court, petitioner Yogendra Yadav, however, had pointed out that duplicate EPIC numbers existed after the revision.

Responding to NDTV's question regarding this, Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar said, "We urge people to fill out the enumeration form from only one place. Action may be taken against those who fill out the form from two places".

In the second phase, the revision exercise will take place in 12 states and Union Territories. The list includes Andaman and Nicobar, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Gujarat, Kerala, Lakshadweep, Madhya Pradesh, Puducherry, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal. 

The process was first rolled out in Bihar -- where assembly elections will be held next month -- in June-July.