DEHRADUN: With the 2027 Uttarakhand Assembly elections on the horizon, the political landscape in the hill state is witnessing a flurry of activity centred around the Special Summary Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.
Learning from the recent electoral dynamics in West Bengal, Bihar, and Assam, communities and political parties are leaving nothing to chance, turning mosques and community centres into nerve centres for documentation drives.
Across Uttarakhand, mosques have begun displaying notices urging residents to locate and preserve identity documents dating back 40 years.
This preemptive measure follows growing concerns over "ghost voters"—thousands of names currently on the electoral rolls that authorities claim are untraceable on the ground.
Observers suggest a pattern: many individuals who migrated from other states to Uttarakhand obtained voter registration here while maintaining, and often utilizing, their electoral rights in their home states.
Recent elections in eastern India saw large-scale deletions of names from rolls after it was discovered that many individuals were registered in multiple states, exploiting local political equations and welfare schemes.
The administrative machinery is currently gearing up for the SIR process.
Uttarakhand currently boasts 11,733 polling booths, with plans to add 811 more. According to official data, 88 percent of the preliminary work has been completed, with efforts now focused on verifying the remaining 12 percent of the electorate.
The stakes are high. Political heavyweights are mobilizing at the booth level.
Sources indicate that the Congress party has deployed Muslim leaders and workers from the Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind to assist in documentation drives.
The party claims to have appointed Booth Level Officers (BLOs) for nearly every constituency. In a counter-strategy, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has completed training for its cadre of BLOs.
These workers are tasked with conducting a granular review of their respective areas to identify missing voters and verify new registrants.
The focus has intensified on districts bordering Uttar Pradesh, where pre-mapping efforts have reportedly failed to locate lakhs of registered voters.
In Dehradun, the issue of "Malin bastis" (slum settlements) has become a focal point of the debate. At the time of the state’s formation in 2000, there were 75 such settlements with minimal populations. That number climbed to 102 by 2004, 129 by 2008, and 150 by 2016. Today, the number is nearing 200.
Significant illegal encroachments have been reported along the flood zones of the Rispana and Bindal rivers, with concerns that these areas have become hubs for questionable voter registration.
While the debate carries undertones of demographic concerns, political parties are framing their involvement as a defence of democratic integrity.
"We have instructed all our workers to remain vigilant regarding the SIR," said Congress spokesperson Mohan Kala. "This is not limited to the Muslim community alone. Congress will not allow the rights of genuine voters in Uttarakhand to be trampled upon."
The looming possibility of future electoral reforms, such as the potential introduction of online voting, has added a layer of urgency to the verification process.
For the average citizen, the message is clear: if you are not physically present, you risk losing your vote. As the state moves closer to the 2027 polls, the battle for the ballot box has truly begun.