The Election Commission will soon set the date for launching a special intensive revision (SIR) campaign of the voter list across the country and the process of amending the voter list in the states may be completed before the end of the year. Officials gave this information on Wednesday.
After a one -day meeting of the Election Commission’s Chief Electoral Officers, officials said that five assembly elections are to be held next year, so the All India Voter List revision campaign can be run in the coming months of 2025. Chief Executive Officers have been instructed to keep the voter list of their states published after the previous SIR. The Chief Executive Officers of some states have already put the voter list published on their website after the previous SIR.
The Commission has said that after Bihar, there will be an exercise of SIR across the country. Assembly elections are to be held in Assam, Kerala, Puducherry, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal in 2026. According to the Election Commission, the main objective of this intensive amendment is to examine the birthplace of foreign illegal migrants and take them out. The Commission says that this step is important in view of action on illegal foreign migrants in various states including Bangladesh and Myanmar. Finally ?, Election Authority will launch an SIR across the country to “discharge its constitutional obligation to protect the integrity of voter lists.
Under the intensive review, Election Officers will go door-to-door verification to ensure flawless voter list. Amid allegations of the opposition parties of the Commission for rigging voter data to help the BJP to help the BJP, the Election Commission has taken additional steps in intensive amendment to ensure that illegal migrant voters are not included in the voter list.
An additional ‘manifesto’ has been introduced for a category of applicants to become voters or from outside the state. They have to give the affidavit that he was born before July 1, 1987 in India and will have to submit any documents certifying the date and/or birth place.
One of the options listed in the manifesto is that he was born in India between July 1, 1987 and December 2, 2004. They will also have to submit documents about the birth date/location of their parents, but the opposition parties have targeted the Bihar voter list. He claims that crores of eligible citizens will be deprived of the right to vote in the absence of documents.
The High Court has asked the Commission to ensure that no eligible citizen is left out. The Chief Electoral Officers of some states have started issuing voter lists published in their respective states after the previous SIR.
There is a 2008 voter list on the website of Delhi’s Chief Electoral Officer, when the final intensive revision took place in the national capital. The final SIR in Uttarakhand was held in 2006 and the voter list of that year is now available on the website of the Chief Electoral Officer of the state. The last SIR in the states will serve as a ‘cut off’ date, just as the Election Commission is using Bihar’s 2003 voter list for intensive revision. Most states amended voter lists between 2002 and 2004.
