Context:
• The Election Commission of India (ECI) has announced modifications to the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls after assessing challenges encountered during the Bihar SIR exercise.
• The changes aim to streamline voter enumeration, enhance accuracy and accessibility, and ensure identity verification through Aadhaar without compromising citizenship rights.
Key Highlights:
- Administrative Reforms in SIR Process
- No physical document collection will be carried out during the enumeration phase of the SIR in 12 States and Union Territories.
- Booth-Level Officers (BLOs) will now identify causes for non-returned enumeration forms, such as:
- Death of the voter,
- Duplicate entries, or
- Migration to another constituency.
- Aadhaar has been officially added as the 12th document accepted for identity verification (not as proof of citizenship), in line with Supreme Court directives.
- Learnings from Bihar’s SIR Experience
- During the Bihar pilot revision, the EC observed that most electors could be traced from earlier rolls, making physical document collection redundant.
- Consequently, the new system relies on digital mapping and cross-verification using previous SIR records and voter lists.
- Only those who submitted enumeration forms will be included in the draft electoral roll, while the list of excluded electors will be publicly displayed to ensure transparency.
- Enhancing Accuracy and Accountability
- The enumeration and declaration forms now require details of whether the elector and their parents or guardians appeared in earlier SIR rolls.
- State-wide voter roll mapping will be used to track name consistency and prevent duplication or omission.
- This marks a shift from the Bihar model, where cross-state voter data mapping was not implemented.
Relevant Mains Points:
- Significance of Reforms:
- Ensures greater transparency, data accuracy, and reduction of bogus entries.
- Reduces duplication, especially for voters with migration or name inconsistencies.
- Enhances citizen trust through public display of exclusions.
- Governance and Digital Integration:
- Promotes digitally verified, Aadhaar-linked voter databases with better inter-state interoperability.
- Reflects ECI’s shift toward data-driven electoral governance.
- Challenges:
- Risk of data privacy violations if Aadhaar linkage lacks strong protection.
- Exclusion risks for marginalized voters due to technological barriers or data mismatches.
- Implementation differences across states may affect uniformity.
- Way Forward:
- Strengthen data protection frameworks for electoral data.
- Conduct awareness campaigns to assist citizens in enumeration.
- Regularly audit BLO procedures to prevent arbitrary deletions or errors.