Nearly 6 crore names have been deleted in first yearof SIR of electoral rolls

The Special Intensive Revision of voter rolls, which has led to deletion of nearly six crore voters so far and triggered hostilities between the Opposition and the Election Commission, has completed a year as the poll list clearance drive continues in 19 States and Union territories.

Also Read: SC backs SIR, says it is in line with Representation of People Act

The pilot SIR exercise was launched in Bihar on June 24 last year ahead of the Assembly elections. Post Bihar SIR, around 65 lakh voters’ list was truncated following allegations by the Opposition and activists that the poll authority was working at the behest of the BJP to disenfranchise citizens for lack of documents.

In March, the Supreme Court unanimously upheld the constitutional validity of the ECI’s move to implement SIR.

Persons whose names are deleted during SIR are exempt from government welfare benefits in West Bengal and Bihar. Following the last State Assembly elections, both governments announced that voter roll purification data was linked to social security.

SIR is now a part of NCERT’s Social Sciences textbook and describes it as a practice to ensure that no citizen who is eligible to vote is left out and no ineligible person is included in the electoral roll.

In the second phase of the implementation, which was announced on October 27 last year, the total voter list was reduced by 10.2% in Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Kerala, Puducherry, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Lakshadweep, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Goa.

The voter base in these States and Union territories before the poll sweep was over 50.99 crore. After implementation, the voter list stands at 45.81 crore; which means a drop of over 5.18 crore. In percentage terms, voter rolls decreased by 10.2%.

As many as 66,88,636 deceased voters were excluded from the list, including a maximum of 25.47 lakh from Uttar Pradesh and 24.16 lakh from poll-bound West Bengal.

Additionally, 63.16 lakh names were deleted following objections and decisions made during the SIR exercise. The final lists for the 12 States and Union territories were published on different dates; The last to release the data was Uttar Pradesh.

The third phase of SIR in 16 States and three Union territories — Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Haryana, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Odisha, Punjab, Sikkim, Tripura, Telangana and Uttarakhand, National Capital of Delhi, Chandigarh and Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu, covering 36.73 crore voters, was implemented on May 14. has been put in place and will be completed by the end of this year.