Special Intensive Revision of Electoral Rolls

• 30 Sep 2025

This editorial is based on “​India needs an SIR because of Manmohan Singh government’s Aadhaar policies”, which was published in The Indian Express on 29/09/2025. The article discusses how the dilution of citizenship criteria in Aadhaar enrolment and its linkage with electoral rolls has allowed illegal immigrants to infiltrate voter lists, undermining the integrity of Indian democracy and national security, thereby necessitating urgent and comprehensive revision of electoral rolls nationwide.

For Prelims: Election Commission of India (ECI), Special Intensive Revision (SIR), Electoral Rolls, Representation of the People Act, 1950

For Mains: Need for Conducting a Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of Electoral Rolls, Key Challenges Involved in Conducting a Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of Electoral Rolls

The Election Commission of India (ECI) has launched a Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar, covering 8 crore voters through fresh enumeration forms. As part of a planned national SIR, all electors are required to resubmit forms and documents, especially those added after the last revision. This challenging exercise, given its massive scale and verification workload, will conclude with the publication of the final electoral roll ahead of the Assembly elections.

What is the Special Intensive Revision of Electoral Rolls?

• About: SIR is a comprehensive, door-to-door verification and update of electoral rolls undertaken by the Election Commission of India (ECI) to ensure accurate and error-free voter lists.
• Legal Basis: Conducted under Section 21(3) of the Representation of the People Act, 1950, and empowered by Article 324 of the Constitution, allowing the ECI discretionary powers to revise rolls as it deems fit.
• Key Features:
  • Intensive house-to-house verification by Booth Level Officers (BLOs).
  • Inclusion of eligible voters, deletion of duplicates, deceased, and ineligible names.
  • Submission of documents for residency and citizenship verification.
• Historical Precedent: Previous SIRs have been conducted intermittently (at least nine times) since the 1950s in various states, reflecting evolving priorities like migration and delimitation.
  • The last SIR in Bihar prior to the ongoing 2025 exercise was conducted in 2003.

What are Electoral Rolls?

• About Electoral Rolls: The electoral roll, also known as the voter's list, includes every person who is registered to vote in a designated area. 
  • It is regularly updated to add new voters (typically those who have reached the age of 18) and remove individuals who are no longer eligible, such as the deceased or those disqualified by law.
  • The preparation, revision, and maintenance of electoral rolls are enshrined in the Constitution of India (Articles 324, 325, 326) and governed by the Representation of the People Act, 1950.
• Types of Electoral Roll:
  • General Electoral Roll: Lists ordinary voters for Lok Sabha, State Assembly, and local body elections.
  • Service Electoral Roll: Covers armed forces personnel and government employees posted outside their place of ordinary residence.
  • Overseas Electoral Roll: For Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) who are eligible and wish to vote.
• Electoral Roll Revision: Electoral roll revision is the process of updating and correcting the voter list to ensure its accuracy and completeness. 
  • It involves adding new voters, removing names of deceased or disqualified persons, and correcting existing entries before an election.

What is the Need for Conducting a Special Intensive Revision of Electoral Rolls?

• Correction of Long-Standing Errors: SIR addresses accumulated errors and omissions affecting election integrity.
  • Bihar’s last SIR was in 2003; the 2025 SIR involves re-verifying nearly 4.74 crore electors (60% of the state’s electorate) to remove inaccuracies and outdated entries.
• Elimination of Duplicate and Bogus Voters: It removes fraudulent or duplicate entries, including multiple registrations, preventing electoral malpractice.
  • By eliminating ghost voters and duplicate entries, the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) reinforces the principle of “one person, one vote”, thereby strengthening public trust in democracy.
• Inclusion of Newly Eligible Voters: Ensures millions of first-time voters who turned 18 since the last update are included, boosting voter participation.
  • Bihar’s 2025 SIR targets 8 crore voters, including many first-time voters.
• Alignment with Electoral Boundaries & Population Shifts: Post-delimitation updates ensure rolls match official constituency boundaries, critical for fair representation.
  • It updates voter addresses to reflect population shifts, maintaining constituency accuracy and reducing disenfranchisement of migrants.
• Transparency and Public Participation: SIR adheres to constitutional provisions (Article 326) and the Representation of the People Act, ensuring eligibility and disqualification rules are followed.
  •  Publishing draft rolls and inviting claims and objections enhances voter confidence.
• Addressing Technological & Policy Upgrades: SIR supports digital integration of electoral rolls and facilitates policy reforms like remote voting for migrants to enhance accessibility and efficiency.
  • E.g., Bihar became the first Indian state to pilot mobile e-voting in municipal polls via the E-SECBHR app, using blockchain, facial recognition, biometric scanning, and voter ID verification.
• Judicial Acceptance: The Supreme Court in the Mohinder Singh Gill v. The Chief Election Commissioner Case, 1977, upheld the ECI’s broad powers under Article 324 to ensure free and fair elections, including ordering re-polls if needed, and emphasised that judicial review is restricted during elections as per Article 329(b).
  • It clarified that ECI can act independently if laws under Articles 327 and 328 are silent on any aspect.
    • Article 327 deals with the power of Parliament to make provision with respect to elections to the Legislature.
    • Article 328 deals with the power of the Legislature of a State to make provision with respect to elections to such Legislature.

What are the Key Challenges Involved in Conducting a Special Intensive Revision of Electoral Rolls?

• Documentation Barriers for Marginalised Groups: Vulnerable populations, including internal migrants, the homeless, and tribal communities, often lack formal documents for voter verification, risking disenfranchisement. 
  • The exclusion of widely used IDs like Aadhaar, ration cards, or even voter IDs can disproportionately impact underprivileged voters.
  • Requiring documents such as birth certificates or legacy records during electoral roll revisions in India can function as a de facto citizenship test, raising serious concerns about the systematic exclusion of marginalised and minority groups who often lack such documentation due to socio-economic and historical reasons.
• Inclusion of Illegal Immigrants: Weak verification mechanisms have allowed illegal immigrants to be registered, raising national security concerns. 
  • As per CAG's Audit Report of 2021, Aadhaar numbers stored in the UIDAI database were not supported with documents on the demographic information of the resident, causing doubts about the correctness and completeness of resident’s data collected and stored by UIDAI prior to 2016.
• Exclusion of Eligible Voters Due to Errors: Conducting SIR involves massive fieldwork with thousands of Booth Level Officers; ensuring adequate training, supervision, and resources, especially in remote areas, is a major operational challenge.
  • Human and system errors during deletion or verification risk leaving out legitimate voters. 
  • Past exercises saw thousands filing claims post-revision to restore unenrolled names, indicating procedural gaps.
  • Data quality and technological limitations, including poor initial data capture, mismatched records, and tech infrastructure gaps, hinder smooth verification. 
    • UIDAI admitted in 2021 that Aadhaar data quality was insufficient for ensuring voter uniqueness.
• Political Manipulation Risks: SIR processes can be politicised, with allegations of parties influencing the inclusion or exclusion of voters for electoral gains.
  • It may lead to accusations of gerrymandering and voter suppression in sensitive states.
• Lack of Adequate Public Consultation: In Bihar’s 2025 Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, a key criticism was the lack of adequate public consultation.
  • While the Election Commission of India (ECI) allowed political parties to appoint Booth Level Agents and invited claims and objections on draft rolls, many activists and civil society groups argued that the process was rushed, limiting meaningful public engagement. 
  • This raised concerns about the transparency, inclusiveness, and legitimacy of the SIR, especially given Bihar’s complex socio-economic conditions, floods, and high migration rates.
• Balancing Security with Democratic Rights: Ensuring tight enrollment is critical for national security, but it must be balanced with citizens’ voting rights. 
  • The Supreme Court mandates inclusive processes while expecting rigorous prevention of fraudulent enrolment, creating a delicate legal and ethical challenge.

What Measures can be Adopted to Enhance the Effectiveness and Inclusiveness of the Special Intensive Revision of Electoral Rolls?

• Simplify Documentation Requirements: Accept a range of documents like Aadhaar, voter ID, and ration cards, reducing disenfranchisement of migrants and marginalised groups.
  • The Supreme Court of India recommended that the ECI should consider widely accepted documents like Aadhaar, voter ID, and ration cards for updating the rolls.
• Strengthen Verification Mechanisms: Strengthen verification by deploying biometric authentication, facial recognition, and AI cross-checks to ensure accuracy.
  • Lessons can be drawn from Bihar’s mobile e-voting pilot using blockchain to curb illegal entries.
• Enhance Public Awareness and Outreach: Conduct awareness campaigns and provide accessible grievance redressal mechanisms to inform citizens about SIR procedures, deadlines, and documentation needs, effective in states like Kerala and Goa.
  • In Canada, Elections Canada runs targeted outreach to Indigenous populations to ensure high participation in electoral roll updates.
• Improve Training and Resources for Field Officers: Equip Booth Level Officers (BLOs) with thorough training, technological tools, and supervision for accurate door-to-door verification, reducing errors and exclusion.
• Encourage Political Party Participation: Political neutrality of the roll process is paramount.
  • Involving recognised parties and their Booth Level Agents (BLAs) in monitoring verification, claims, and objections ensures that deletions and additions are not seen as politically motivated.
  • Conduct public consultations with civil society and citizens to prevent partisan manipulation, enhance transparency, and ensure inclusive participation.
  • Germany allows political parties and independent observers to monitor electoral rolls for transparency.
• Leverage Legal and Judicial Oversight: Ensure adherence to constitutional provisions (Article 326) and the Representation of the People Act, supported by Supreme Court and Election Commission reviews, safeguarding democratic rights.
  • Conduct SIR in phases, starting with high-risk areas with maximum migration or discrepancies, refining methods based on feedback before full-scale rollout, as in Bihar’s 2025 phased launch.

Conclusion:

As political experts note, electoral roll inaccuracies “inflate the denominator and lead to a downward bias for turnout estimates,” highlighting the need for regular and thorough revisions. To tackle challenges like documentation gaps, duplicate entries, and political manipulation, the Election Commission should implement simplified verification, biometric authentication, public awareness campaigns, and phased rollouts of a credible SIR process for participatory elections.

Drishti Mains Que:

Accurate voter lists are vital for free and fair elections. Examine how the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) can improve electoral accuracy and inclusiveness in India.

   

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

1. What is the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls?
   A door-to-door verification by the ECI to ensure accurate, updated electoral rolls, under Section 21(3) of the RPA, 1950 and Article 324.
2. Why is SIR needed in India?
   To correct errors, remove duplicates, include new voters, align with migration and delimitation, and uphold “one person, one vote”.
3. What are the key challenges of SIR?
   Documentation gaps, illegal entries, operational errors, political manipulation, limited public consultation, and tech limitations.
4. How can SIR be made effective and inclusive?
   Simplify documents, use biometrics/AI, public awareness, train BLOs, involve parties, hold consultations, phased rollout, legal oversight.

UPSC Civil Services Examination, Previous Year Question (PYQ)  

Prelims 

Q. Consider the following statements: (2021)

1. In India, there is no law restricting the candidates from contesting in one Lok Sabha election from three constituencies.
2. In the 1991 Lok Sabha Election, Shri Devi Lal contested from three Lok Sabha constituencies.
3. As per the existing rules, if a candidate contests in one Lok Sabha election from many constituencies, his/her party should bear the cost of bye-elections to the constituencies vacated by him/her winning in all the constituencies.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct? 

(a) 1 only  

(b) 2 only 

(c) 1 and 3  

(d) 2 and 3 

Ans: (b)

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Mains 

Q.Discuss the procedures to decide the disputes arising out of the election of a Member of the Parliament or State Legislature under The Representation of the People Act, 1951. What are the grounds on which the election of any returned candidate may be declared void? What remedy is available to the aggrieved party against the decision? Refer to the case laws. (2022)