In a first in more than twenty years, the Election Commission of India (EC) has announced a nationwide Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voter rolls to start by the end of October 28. Phase 2 will begin in 12 states, and union territories after Phase 1 had been accomplished in Bihar earlier this year and Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar announced it at a press conference in New Delhi on Monday.
According to Gyanesh Kumar, the previous SIR had been conducted over 20 years ago and eight such revisions had been conducted by the commission between 1951 and 2004. The relocation, he said, is to modernize and renovate electoral lists, to have precision and inclusiveness going forward with the approaching elections.
The new program will entail a cross-checking of the voter records with the 2002, 2003, and 2004 records. During the pre-enumeration phase, door to door checks will be done by the Booth Level Officers (BLOs) who will visit each household in at least three visits to make sure that all the eligible citizens are counted. Individuals who cannot be at home or during the working hours will be given an option of updating their details online.
The CEC stated that the aim of the SIR is to ensure that no qualified voters are left out and no unqualified names are kept in the electoral rolls. The process, he said would also aid in establishing duplicates, deleting dead voters and correcting roll errors.
The EC is also putting much emphasis on public participation and transparency, and it is encouraging people to cooperate with BLOs and verify them. Officials indicated that the data verification and updating process will go on a number of weeks after which a draft voter list will be issued and reviewed by the people before the final rolls are issued.
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