Comparing SIR 2002-04 and 2025-26

Why in the News

The 2002-04 revision of electoral rolls verified households door to door and treated a voter’s presence on the existing roll as evidence; the current Special Intensive Revision (SIR) makes voters prove their own eligibility. Amid renewed protests, around 13.3 crore names have been deleted across three phases, many of them possibly eligible voters.

What is an SIR, and what power does it rest on?

1. What it is: An SIR prepares the electoral roll afresh, house to house, instead of updating it. It works like a fresh census of voters.
2. Legal basis: Section 21(3) of the Representation of the People Act, 1950 (RP Act) lets the Election Commission of India (ECI) order a special revision of the roll for any constituency, or part of one, in such manner as it thinks fit.
3. Rarely used: SIRs have been held on eight occasions, the last in 2002-04.
4. Nationwide SIR upheld: The ECI decided in June 2025 on a nationwide SIR, starting with Bihar. In May 2026, the Supreme Court held an SIR for ‘many’ or ‘all’ constituencies in a State within the ECI’s constitutional mandate.
5. The takeaway: The law leaves the method of an SIR to the ECI, so how it is done decides whether eligible voters stay on the roll.

How was the 2002-04 SIR done?

1. Door to door from the old roll: Under the May 2002 guidelines, enumerators verified households against a preliminary list built from the existing roll, with Panchayat members helping voluntarily.
2. Layered supervision: Supervisors randomly checked a share of households and visited houses reported locked. Senior officers ran their own sample checks.
3. Burden on new applicants: Only first time applicants had to prove citizenship. Following Lal Babu Hussein (1995), the Electoral Registration Officer (ERO), who decides inclusions, gave “probative value” (weight as evidence) to presence on the existing roll.
4. Shifted electors transferred: Shifted electors were marked “S”, not erased, and enrolled at their new address in the same exercise.
5. Bulk claims rejected: Bulk claims and objections were summarily rejected, and the roll was finalised only after every claim was disposed of.

Where does the current SIR depart from 2002?

1. Untraced voters excluded: Electors not found, or who did not return the form, were left off the draft roll, even past voters.
2. Shifted voters re-applying: Shifted electors must file Form 8 or apply afresh through Form 6, the form for new voters. This breaches the ECI’s own Manual on Electoral Rolls (2023), which requires notice before deletion.
3. Thinner supervision: The Bihar notification mandates only 10% random verification by supervisors.
4. Burden shifted to voters: Electors must trace themselves or a parent to the last intensive roll, about two decades old, or produce citizenship documents.
5. Software and bulk deletions: Software flagged “logical discrepancies”, such as spelling differences or parent-child age gaps outside 15 to 45 years, excluding lakhs. Bulk Form 7 objections were capped per person only on October 9.

Challenges

1. Contested Declaration: The legality of the declaration attached to Form 6 remains disputed.
2. New voter form for old voters: Using Form 6 to re-enrol deleted electors treats long registered citizens as first time applicants.
3. Appeal backlog: The procedure for disposing of a large number of appeals is cumbersome, so wrongly deleted voters wait.

Way Forward

1. Audit finalised rolls: Audit in detail the rolls finalised so far.
2. Re-enrol at the door: Expedite eligible re-enrolment claims through home visits.
3. Door to door in ongoing States: Make door to door enumeration the prescribed procedure where the SIR continues.
4. Claims before finality: Finalise rolls only after disposing of all claims and objections.
5. Pre-SIR rolls in force: Under the proviso to Section 21(3), use pre-SIR rolls for upcoming State elections until the new rolls complete due process.

Conclusion

The courts have upheld the ECI’s power to revise rolls, but not the method that has removed crores of names. Whether finalised rolls are audited and deleted voters re-enrolled before the next State elections is what to watch.

Key numbers

1. Deaths: around 2.7 crore deletions (20%).
2. Duplicates: around 1.01 crore entries flagged.
3. Absent, shifted and others: around 9.5 crore (71%), many possibly eligible.
4. 2002 sample checks: supervisors at least 25% of households; Assistant EROs 12%, EROs 5%, District Election Officers 2%.
5. Phase coverage: Phase II (October 2025 to February 2026) 9 States and 3 Union Territories (UTs); Phase III (from May 2026) 16 States and 3 UTs.

Matching Previous Year Question

“[2026, GS2, 10 marks] Is the right to vote a fundamental right? Discuss the position of the Election Commission of India while undertaking the revision of electoral rolls. Can it also examine the question of citizenship of voters?”