The Election Commission of India (ECI) issued directives on Thursday to Chief Electoral Officers (CEOs) across states and Union Territories, instructing them to complete preparations for the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voter lists, as stated in an ECI press release.
The directive was part of the outcomes from a two-day conference of CEOs focused on SIR preparedness, which concluded at the India International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Management (IIIDEM) in New Delhi. The conference served as a platform for the ECI to evaluate the progress made on earlier instructions given to CEOs. These instructions involved mapping current electors against those included in the last SIR conducted in their respective states and Union Territories.
During the conference, the ECI held one-on-one interactions with CEOs from states and Union Territories scheduled for upcoming elections, namely Assam, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, Kerala, and West Bengal. These sessions allowed CEOs to raise queries, which were addressed following detailed presentations by senior ECI officers on the SIR process.
The conference was chaired by Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, with Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi in attendance. CEOs from all states and Union Territories participated in the event.
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This meeting followed a prior SIR preparedness conference held on September 10, where states and Union Territories presented detailed reports. These reports covered the number of electors, the qualifying date of the last SIR, and the status of the electoral roll in their regions based on the previous SIR.
The ECI’s focus on the SIR aligns with Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar’s earlier announcement of a nationwide SIR, prompted by the recent SIR of the electoral roll in Bihar, a poll-bound state. In Bihar, the final voter list now stands at 7.42 crore electors, a reduction from the 7.89 crore recorded as of June 24.
The revision process in Bihar led to the removal of 65 lakh voters from the draft list and an additional 3.66 lakh ineligible electors from the final list. Concurrently, 21.53 lakh eligible electors were added through Form 6, resulting in the updated total of 7.42 crore voters.
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