The Election Commission of India will extend its Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise nationwide after completing a pilot program in Bihar, sources confirmed to the media. The comprehensive electoral roll re-verification aims to ensure accuracy and integrity across all states and Union Territories.
National Strategy Meeting Held
The poll body conducted a meeting with chief electoral officers from all states and UTs to discuss implementation modalities for the pan-India exercise. No official start date has been announced for the massive undertaking.
During the conference, the Commission reviewed state presentations covering elector numbers, qualifying dates from previous SIR exercises, and the digitization status of electoral rolls. Chief electoral officers also reported on mapping electors with earlier rolls and rationalizing polling stations to maintain the 1,200-elector limit per station.
Bihar Experience Serves as Model
Bihar’s CEO delivered a detailed presentation highlighting strategies, challenges, and best practices from the state’s SIR exercise, which will guide other states’ implementation. While some states reported full preparedness for the upcoming revision, others identified challenges from previous exercises.
The Commission also assessed appointment and training status for personnel who will conduct the exercise across the country.
Constitutional Mandate and Implementation
The Election Commission announced its decision to conduct nationwide SIR on June 24, 2024, “for the discharge of its constitutional mandate to protect the integrity of electoral rolls.” With Bihar facing upcoming elections, the state served as the initial testing ground, with the Commission stating that schedules for other states would be “issued separately in due course.”
Bihar Results and Challenges
The Bihar exercise faced complications, including Supreme Court intervention directing the Commission to include Aadhaar in the list of acceptable identity documents for voter roll inclusion or exclusion requests.
Nearly 65 lakh voters from Bihar’s total 7.24 crore were excluded from draft rolls published August 1. According to the poll body, this gap resulted from 22 lakh deceased individuals, 36 lakh who permanently relocated or were untraceable, and 7 lakh enrolled multiple times.
Following draft publication, digital and physical copies were distributed to political parties and posted on the EC website. The deadline for filing inclusion claims and exclusion objections ended September 1.
The nationwide rollout represents the Commission’s commitment to electoral integrity ahead of future elections.
