Election Commission in final huddle on nationwide voter roll overhaul

In what could mark the start of the biggest voter roll verification exercise in decades, the Election Commission of India (ECI) will hold a high-level meeting with Chief Electoral Officers (CEOs) from all States and Union Territories on October 22 to finalize the nationwide rollout of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.

The meeting, scheduled at the India International Institute of Democracy and Election Management (IIIDEM) in Dwarka, comes barely a month after the Commission’s last round of consultations with state CEOs.

Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi will chair the discussions, which are expected to focus on the lessons drawn from Bihar’s recently concluded SIR and the administrative readiness for its national expansion.

The Commission, it is learnt, will decide the rollout dates for the SIR after reviewing state-wise preparedness. Other operational and administrative issues are also on the agenda.

The SIR marks a significant departure from the two-decade-old practice of annual or pre-election Special Summary Revisions. Unlike those, this intensive revision involves preparing the electoral rolls afresh, verifying eligibility through new documentation.

The nationwide SIR was first announced on June 24, beginning with Bihar, where Assembly elections are due. Under that order, all 7.89 crore registered electors in Bihar were required to submit new enumeration forms by July 25 to feature in the draft roll published on August 1.

Those added to the rolls after 2003 — the year of the last intensive revision—had to furnish proof of their date and place of birth, while those born after July 1, 1987 were asked to submit parental documents as well, in line with the Citizenship Act, 1955.

The EC listed 11 acceptable documents—such as passports, birth certificates and caste certificates — but notably excluded widely held IDs like Aadhaar, voter cards, and ration cards. The exercise led to the deletion of 65 lakh names at the draft stage and another 3.66 lakh in the final rolls.

The move, however, has sparked controversy. A batch of petitions challenging the EC’s June 24 order is pending before the Supreme Court, with critics alleging it mirrors a nationwide National Register of Citizens (NRC) in the making. The court, while stopping short of halting the process, directed the EC to include Aadhaar as a valid document and to publicly list all deleted names with reasons.

At its previous meeting, the EC had instructed state CEOs to map as many electors as possible to their previous intensive revision rolls to reduce the documentation burden on citizens.

The meeting is expected to be decisive — potentially setting the stage for a countrywide voter verification exercise that could redefine India’s electoral database.