What is the SIR Electoral Roll and Why is it Important?

The Election Commission of India (ECI) has begun a Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the state's electoral rolls four months prior to the Bihar state elections. The SIR's effort is to "ensure that no eligible citizen is left out while no ineligible person is included in the Electoral Roll." After claims and objections have been resolved, the final electoral roll will be released on September 30. The enumeration exercise started on July 1.

What is the SIR Electoral Roll?

House-to-house enumeration is used to prepare new electoral rolls as part of an extensive revision. Without consulting current rolls, enumerators visit each home to list eligible voters as of a qualifying date.

This is carried out when the ECI concludes that the current rolls need to be completely rebuilt or are erroneous. This usually happens prior to significant elections or following administrative procedures like constituency delimitation.

Why in the News?

On Thursday, July 10, the Supreme Court recommended that the Election Commission of India (ECI) take into consideration allowing Aadhaar, voter ID cards, and ration cards as legitimate documents for updating the rolls. The Supreme Court declined to stop the ECI from proceeding with its Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls in Bihar.

The ECI's new requirement that even current voters, if enrolled after 2003, provide documentary proof to establish their date and/or place of birth, which is then used to determine citizenship, has met with widespread political opposition and significant confusion on the ground in the state that is headed to the polls.

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How will ECI update Bihar Voter List?

ECI will be updating the voter list of Bihar by following the given steps:

• Trained Booth Level Officers (BLO) will go door-to-door and assist current voters (4.89 crore) in filling out enumeration forms. Additionally, BLOs will gather enumeration forms and provide recommendations on each one. Submissions must be made by July 25, 2025.

• The boundaries of constituencies will be finalized, and polling places will be rearranged as needed. There should ideally be no more than 1200 voters in each polling station.

• A draft electoral roll will be released on August 1, 2025, and electoral rolls will be updated in accordance with completed enumeration forms.

• Anyone with claims or objections to the draft electoral rolls may submit them between August 1 and September 1.

• A judgment regarding completed enumeration forms and submitted claims will be made by September 25.

• On September 30, 2025, the database will be updated with the final electoral roll.

Voter List last Updated in 2003

According to the ECI, similar SIRs were previously carried out in all or some regions of the nation for the purpose of preparing new electoral rolls in 1952–56, 1957, 1961, 1965, 1966, 1983–84, 1987–89, 1992, 1993, 1995, 2002, 2003, and 2004.

The most recent SIR in Bihar was carried out in 2003. Similar to the current drive, the SIR was completed in 31 days without the use of modern technology. In 2005, the electoral rolls were also updated in accordance with the usual cycle prior to the polls. The Bihar EC eliminated people with non-bailable warrants who were included on the electoral rolls after discovering 70,000 "duplicate names" in Patna alone.

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