Be prepared for SIR rollout by Sept 30, EC tells state poll officers

The Election Commission (EC) has instructed Chief Electoral Officers (CEOs) of all states to complete preparations for a special intensive revision (SIR) of voter lists by September 30. The directive indicates that the nationwide clean-up exercise could be launched in October-November.

In a conference of all state CEOs earlier this month, the EC had directed them to complete the groundwork for the exercise by September 30 -- incidentally, the same date set for the final publication of Bihar’s electoral roll.

Meanwhile, despite the Supreme Court suggesting the EC to release updates on claims and objections from Bihar voters regarding the draft electoral roll, the poll body has not published any update since September 1, the deadline for submissions.

On September 15, a Bench of Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi, which is hearing petitions against the special intensive revision (SIR) in Bihar, suggested that the EC could ensure greater transparency by publishing more data on the claims and objections received. On this, the EC’s counsel said weekly updates were already being issued. The Bench then said making this information public would indeed bring transparency.

However, the EC has not issued any updates on the status of objections since September 1. Until that date, it had been providing daily updates on objections filed by both common voters and political parties against the draft electoral rolls.

According to the last update provided by the EC, which covered the period from August 1 (3 pm) to September 1 (10 am), 2,17,049 voters had submitted claims for the exclusion of names from the draft roll, while only 36,475 had applied for the inclusion of names.

Among political parties, the CPI (ML) Liberation submitted 103 claims for the exclusion of names and 15 applications for inclusion. The BJP submitted 16 claims for exclusion, while the RJD submitted 10 claims for inclusion.

The EC said the Congress had submitted no claims by September 1. However, the main opposition party claimed in a press conference on August 31 in Patna that it had filed 89 lakh complaints with the poll body and possessed stamped receipts as evidence. The EC countered that these applications were not in the proper format.

On September 30, the EC will come up with the final publication of electoral roll for Bihar, even as sources said the voter rolls would be finalised after the last date for filing of nominations for the upcoming Bihar Assembly elections.