Special Intensive Revision of Electoral Rolls

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ECI to begin Special Intensive Revision of Electoral Rolls in Bihar

The Election Commission of India (ECI) issued instructions for holding Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in the State of Bihar as per the guidelines and schedule specified by the Commission. The objective of an intensified revision is to ensure that the names of all eligible citizens are included in the Electoral Roll (ER) so as to enable them to exercise their franchise, no ineligible voter is included in the electoral rolls and also to introduce complete transparency in the process of addition or deletion of electors in the electoral rolls. The last intensive revision for Bihar was conducted by the Commission in the year 2003.

Various reasons such as rapid urbanization, frequent migration, young citizens becoming eligible to vote, non-reporting of deaths and inclusion of the names of foreign illegal immigrants have necessitated the conduct of an intensive revision so as to ensure integrity and preparation of error-free electoral rolls. The Booth Level Officers (BLOs) shall be conducting house-to- house survey for verification during the process of this intensive revision.

While conducting the special revision, the ECI shall be scrupulously adhering to the Constitutional and legal provisions regarding eligibility to be registered as a voter and disqualifications for registration in an electoral roll which are clearly laid down in Article 326 of the Constitution of India and Section 16 of the Representation of the People Act, 1950 respectively.

In accordance with Section 23 of the Representation of People Act 1950, the eligibility conditions to enrol as an elector were already being verified by the ERO to his satisfaction. Now, to ensure complete transparency, it would be necessary that the documents on the basis of which such satisfaction of ERO is arrived at, are also uploaded in ECINET as the current level of technology enables so. However, these documents shall be accessible to authorized election officials only keeping in view the privacy issues. In case of any claims and objections raised by any political party or an elector, the AERO would inquire into the same before EROs satisfaction is arrived at. Under Section 24 of the Act, an appeal against the order of ERO can also be made to the District Magistrate and the Chief Electoral Officer.

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