Special Intensive Revision of Electoral Rolls: A Political Critique
Samik Lahiri
FOLLOWING Bihar, the Election Commission of India (ECI) announced on October 27, that the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls would begin in West Bengal and 11 other states.
WHAT IS SIR?
SIR is a special campaign conducted by the Election Commission of India to purify the electoral rolls by eliminating errors, inconsistencies or defects. Its primary objectives include deleting the names of the deceased and permanently shifted electors, including new eligible voters, and removing multiple entries for the same individual across different booths. Through this process, Booth Level Officers (BLOs) visit homes to verify the information of old and current voters to create accurate electoral rolls. Notably, this intensive revision has not been carried out in most Indian states for the past two decades.
WHO IS INCLUDED?
To keep their names on the voter list, every person, whether currently enrolled or not, must fill out and submit an Enumeration Form (EF). Those who correctly submit the EF within the stipulated time will first be included in the Draft Roll.
Those who can prove that their name, or the name of their parents (relative), was present in the Last Intensive Revision list (the 2002 list in the case of West Bengal) will be easily considered eligible to remain on the list.
Those who have completed or will complete 18 years of age on January 1, 2026, can apply for inclusion by filling out Form-6.
If someone does not have their name or their parents’ names on the 2002 list, they must submit appropriate documents proving their age, residence, and citizenship and attend a hearing to be included in the final list.
REQUIRED DOCUMENTS
During verification, one or more of the following documents may be requested as proof of your citizenship, age, and residence (provided by the competent authority):
1) Birth Certificate 2) Valid Passport 3) Educational Certificate from a recognised Board/University 4) Identity Card or Pension Payment Order (PPO) issued to regular employees and pensioners of Central or State Government or Public Sector Undertakings 5) Permanent Residence Certificate (PRC) issued by the competent State Government authority 6) Any identity card/certificate/document issued by the Government of India or local authority/bank/post office/life insurance/PSU before July 1, 1987 7) Copy of NRC (where applicable, such as in Assam) 8) Caste Certificate (OBC/SC/ST) from the competent authority 9) Forest Right Certificate 10) Family Register prepared by State/Local Authority 11) Government-issued land/house allotment certificate and 12) Aadhaar Card - only to be used as an identity proof, not as proof of citizenship.
NUMEROUS UNANSWERED QUESTIONS
First, the Election Commission itself is unwilling to accept the voter card it issued to every valid voter as a valid proof document. It is not recognizing its own issued document! Why? No answer!
Second, why are government-issued documents like Ration Cards and PAN Cards not considered acceptable documents? No answer to this either!
Third, why is a voter considered valid only if their name, or their parent's name, was on the 2002 voter list? Why should someone who voted in five Lok Sabha and four Assembly elections after 2002, or even became a people's representative, be deleted from the 2025 roll if they weren't on the 2002 list? Were they illegal voters in those nine elections? Does that mean the resulting Assembly and Lok Sabha were illegitimate? No answer!
Fourth, and most crucially, why is it that for the first 11 documents, it is not specified that they are not proof of citizenship, but for the 12th document, the Aadhaar Card, it is explicitly stated that it is only for identity proof and not citizenship proof? Does this imply that showing any of the first 11 documents makes one a valid citizen? No answer to this question! Why single out the Aadhaar Card for this differential treatment? Is this vindictive behaviour against the Aadhaar Card because the Commission was forced to recognize it by the Supreme Court? There is no explanation for this bizarre decision!
Feature | 2002-2004 SIR | 2025 SIR |
|---|---|---|
Base Roll | Used the latest voter roll of that time as the base. | Uses the Last Intensive Revision roll, specifically the 2002 list, as the main base. |
Document Submission | Generally, mandatory document submission was not required for all voters. | No documents required initially; only the Enumeration Form (EF) must be filled. Those whose names do not link to the last SIR list will be served notices and asked to submit documents. |
Focus on Citizenship | The 2003 guidelines stated, "It is not the job of the enumerator to determine citizenship." | The current process places greater emphasis on purity of the roll and requires those unlinked to the old list to prove their eligibility, thereby incorporating the issue of citizenship. |
Linkage | Primarily matched names only with the old roll of their own state. | A voter can link their name or the name of their parents/relatives with the last SIR roll of any state in India. An all-India database will be used for verification. |
Duration | The 2003 SIR took more than six months. | The 2025 process is scheduled to be completed in a very short period (approximately 3 months). |
Aadhaar Card Role | Aadhaar did not exist, so its use as a document was irrelevant. | Following the Supreme Court directive, it can be submitted as Identity Proof only but not as proof of citizenship. |
The table above makes it amply clear that SIR is not meant for proving citizenship. Yet, why is the Election Commission giving so much importance to this aspect now? No answer!
DETERMINING CITIZENSHIP
The Constitution grants the Parliament (Article 11) the ultimate power to legislate on citizenship. As per the law, the responsibility for verifying and registering citizenship lies with the Central Government's Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA). The Registrar General of India (RGI), under the MHA, oversees processes like the National Population Register (NPR) and, if necessary, the National Register of Indian Citizens (NRC).
So, why is the Election Commission interfering in the verification of who is a citizen and who is not? No answer to this either! However, the motive is clear. The job that Amit Shah's ministry was supposed to do but utterly failed to implement - the plan to divide the country's population based on religion, caste, and language through the NRC was washed away by the tide of the anti-NRC mass movement. Now, the Modi-Shah duo is trying to execute that plan through the backdoor using the Election Commission as their tool.
This divisive, anti-Constitutional effort must be resisted at all costs. Everyone must remain vigilant so that not a single eligible voter's name is dropped.
On the other hand, in West Bengal, the ruling Trinamool party has engaged in a conspiracy to fill the voter lists of every booth with numerous names of the deceased, permanently shifted and fake voters. A massive movement must be launched to identify and delete these names.
The ECI should focus on creating a genuine voter list with actual voters instead of spreading panic. It must take the initiative to ensure the 2026 election is peaceful and bloodless. It should fulfil its Constitutional mandate, not act as a puppet of the RSS-BJP. Otherwise, the tide of mass agitation will hit the streets.
