NEW DELHI: Undeterred by the raging controversy over theSpecial Intensive Revision of electoral rolls in poll-bound Bihar, it is learnt that the Election Commission has sent a communication to Chief Electoral Officers (CEOs) of all the states to activate poll machinery for a possible roll out of the exercise on a pan-India basis.
It appeared that the Commission moved to activate the poll machinery across the country in the backdrop of the Supreme Court’s observation last week that the SIR is a “constitutional mandate” and permitted the poll panel to continue with the exercise in Bihar.
Several opposition parties and other civil society organisations had moved the top court challenging the intensive revision, saying it will deprive eligible citizens of their right to vote for want of documents specified by the poll panel for inclusion in the voters’ list.
However, Union Home Minister Amit Shah in an interview with TNIE on Saturday said, “I believe that if anyone has any concerns about the process, he/she should approach the Election Commission. Not with presumptions, but with examples of the outcomes of the process. Roll revision is not happening for the first time. It happened in 1991, too. Also, it’s not being done only in Bihar. I think it will be done across India. Anyway, the matter is before the Supreme Court.”
On the question of the opposition calling it a shadow CAA-NRC, Shah said, “They opposed everything the EC does. They need to justify their poll defeats, so they present fake narratives, like saying ‘we lost because of EVMs."
The sources said that in the communication to the CEOs, the ECI has asked them to prepare for conducting SIR in their respective jurisdictions with January 1, 2026, as the qualifying date, which meant that those who attain the age of 18 years on that date would be included in the voters’ list.
According to the sources, a few of the CEOs have already started putting out the voters’ list published after the last SIR held in their states.
The website of the Delhi CEO has the 2008 voters’ list, when the last intensive revision took place in the national capital. In Uttarakhand, the last SIR took place in 2006 and that year’s electoral roll is now on the state CEO website.
The last SIR in states will serve as cut off dates as 2003 voters list of Bihar is being used by EC for intensive revision. Most of the states carried out the revision of electoral rolls between 2002 and 2004.
According to the sources, the poll body will take a final call on the nationwide exercise after July 28, when the Bihar SIR case will come up again for hearing in the top court.
The Election Commission had earlier announced that it would eventually carry out the SIR of electoral rolls across the country to remove foreign illegal migrants by checking their place of birth. The move assumes significance in the wake of a crackdown in various states on illegal foreign migrants, including from Bangladesh and Myanmar.
Bihar is going to the polls this year, while assembly polls in these five other states - Assam, Kerala, Puducherry, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal - are scheduled in 2026.
