SIR by ECI is clandestine attempt by BJP to prepare National Register of Citizens: Activist Shiv Sundar

“The Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the Election Commission of India (ECI) is against the spirit of the Constitution and has no support in existing laws,” activist and writer Shiv Sundar claimed in Vijayapura on February 11.

“Under the Constitution and laws like the Representation of the People Act, the Election Commission of India has no power to verify the citizenship status of individuals. This is a judicial process that has to be decided by a court. But ECI’s SIR does exactly that. The surprising thing is that until recently, the ECI claimed to have corrected errors in the electoral rolls. But now it has admitted before the Supreme Court that it has verified citizenship through the SIR.” SIR workshop organized by May Sahitya Mela, Dalit Vidyarthi Parishat and Ladai publications.

“So far, the ECI had maintained that the SIR was intended for revision of the electoral rolls, including correction of errors, removal of names of dead and displaced voters and addition of new voters. But now, the ECI’s lawyers have admitted before the Supreme Court that they had verified the citizenship status of the voters. This is in violation of the orders in some past cases where the SC had stated that verifying citizenship was the duty of special courts and not the ECI,” he said.

“In view of these false allegations and disinformation, we say that the Union Government has registered FIRs against all citizens in the name of SIR,” he said.

“SIR is a tool for the government to question our citizenship and ask us to prove our citizenship. To suspect that we are all aliens, it hides behind a few documents and insists that we prove our Indian citizenship. We have a strong suspicion that SIR is just a front for the government’s real intention, which is to prepare a National Register of Citizens.”

“The Constitution of India is an obstacle to Fascist forces trying to transform the country into a Brahmin-Hindu corporatist state. Our Constitution is the biggest obstacle that protects secular, liberal principles. Therefore, Fascist forces have hatched a conspiracy to destroy the Constitution.

“Already, they are trying to take away the employment rights of the poor and turn them into living corpses. Now there is a conspiracy to take away their citizenship rights by taking away possible votes that the BJP cannot get. This is a big game to destroy democracy itself. With this new process, citizens will not be killed, their citizenship will be killed. This is a war against indigenous people, SC/ST, OBCs, women, rural poor and migrant workers.

“Earlier, when the BJP government tried to implement the NRC directly, it faced strong opposition. But now it is implementing the NRC indirectly through the SIR. Some BJP leaders alleged that the SIR was aimed at removing foreigners from the voter lists. But in Bihar, where 65 lakh people were excluded from the voter list, there were only two foreigners in the voter list.

“An estimated 25 crore Indians will be deprived of citizenship if SIR is implemented in all states.

“It seems that the only solution is a mass popular movement without political affiliation. We all need to unite and start a popular movement on the model of the freedom movement and reverse this conspiracy.”

Notices by ECI officers to voters to prove their citizenship; He claimed that they relied on ‘bad reasons’, such as the age difference between mother and children being less than 15 years, the age difference between grandmother and grandchildren being 40 years, parents having more than six children, parents and grandparents having to prove their citizenship, proving paternity and presenting documents that are difficult to obtain for poor people, such as passports and state employment certificates.

ECI officers in some states like Karnataka do not comply with SC orders that say Aadhaar card can be accepted as proof of citizenship.

“Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said that the Congress does not see SIR as a political issue. This is unfortunate,” he said.

Anil Hosmani, SM Patil Ganihara, MC Mulla, Bhagavan Reddy, Rajashekar Yadahalli, Surekha Rajput, Prerana Koli, Srinath Poojari and Yusuf Newara were among the participants of the SIR workshop.

It was published – 12 February 2026 12:42 IST