Mumbai: Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has defended the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, saying that such intensive voter-list revision exercises have been carried out in India for decades.

Fadnavis provided a timeline of intensive electoral roll revisions and described the current SIR as the next phase” of a long-running process. According to Fadnavis, intensive revision in different parts of India began in the 1950s in which exercises were taken place in a number of periods (1952-56, 1957, 1961, 1965, 1966).

He also mentions that these revision exercises have gone on in 1983-84, 1987-89, 1992, 1993 and 1995 and have been repeated in the early 2000s. What is Special Intensive Revision? The Election Commission cites intensive revision as a process that can involve extensive checking of electoral rolls and even enumerations from house-to-house. The ECI's electoral-roll manual states that a special revision of an intensive nature was conducted with reference to January 1, 2002, in 20 states and intensive revision was carried out in seven states in 2003.

Fadnavis said officials visit voters' home,collect information and use Enumeration Forms to check existing entries, and to identify those who should be added to the voter list.

What is the reason for electoral rolls being updated? 

There are several factors that can change electoral rolls over time, Fadnavis said, including urbanisation, migration, deaths as well as the number of new voters. People can also move from one location to another and register at a new one.

The Election Commission has also noted that people sometimes stay registered at their previous home after they shift, and so there are repeated entries. The ECI’s standard electoral roll revision procedure also includes house-to-house verification to find eligible voters not enrolled and dead, shifted and multiple entry errors. Fadnavis Says SIR Aims to Keep Voter Lists Accurate.

Fadnavis said the Election Commission is responsible for keeping eligible citizens in the electoral rolls and keeping the accuracy and reliability of the lists as reliable as possible. He said the current SIR is just one more step in this process and not a completely new one.

In the current voter services portal of the Election Commission, names and addresses in the past SIR electoral rolls are searched and electoral-roll information is available. Political Debate Continues. Fadnavis’s comments come at a moment when the SIR exercise is still in the political and legal debate. Opposition parties and other groups have raised questions about the process, documentation and possible impact on voters. 

The Election Commission has maintained that electoral roll changes are to maintain the voter lists as accurate as possible and to update them. Its Electoral Roll Management manual says: “There are mechanisms for adding eligible voters, correcting entries and removing entries that do not meet the requirements." With the debate continuing, Fadnavis's detailed timeline attempts to place the present SIR within the longer history of electoral roll changes in India.