After Bihar test, Election Commission gears up for nationwide electoral roll clean-up; key meet on September 10

The September 10 conference in Delhi is expected to finalise the roadmap.

The Election Commission of India (ECI) is preparing to carry out a Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls across the country, after first testing the process in Bihar. Sources told News18 that the Commission has called a conference of Chief Electoral Officers (CEOs) in Delhi on September 10 to discuss the plan.

Senior EC officials, the Chief Election Commissioner and Election Commissioners will be present. According to the News18 report, each CEO has been asked to make a PowerPoint presentation covering ten key areas, ranging from the current number of electors and polling station rationalisation to training of local election officials and digitisation of past rolls.

Why Bihar was chosen first

In its June 24 order, the EC made clear that it would begin with Bihar because Assembly elections are due later this year. The SIR process there is already underway and is set to conclude by September 30.

The order cited Section 21 of the Representation of the People Act, 1950, which empowers the Commission to direct fresh preparation of electoral rolls to ensure their integrity. Officials described the Bihar exercise as a pilot before the programme is rolled out nationally.

What the exercise involves

The SIR is more detailed than the usual annual revision of electoral rolls. It includes:

Fresh mapping of electors to past rolls
Rationalisation of polling stations to cap voters at 1,200 per booth
Scrutiny of citizenship documents to prevent non-citizens from being added
Training of district-level officers, booth-level officers (BLOs) and agents
A major focus is digitisation and ensuring that all states upload updated rolls on their websites.

Opposition calls it a political ploy

The exercise has sparked political controversy in Bihar. Opposition parties, including the Congress, have accused the ruling BJP of using the revision to delete names of existing voters and add new ones to sway the upcoming state election.

Congress leaders claimed they flagged irregularities but said their complaints were brushed aside. The EC pushed back, saying that no official party representative had filed claims or objections in the prescribed format on the draft rolls published on August 1.

According to the Commission, 65 lakh names have already been deleted from Bihar’s electoral rolls under the ongoing SIR.

Nationwide rollout on the cards

While the EC has not officially announced a date for the nationwide rollout, sources told News18 that the plan is to conduct the SIR simultaneously across all states and union territories. The September 10 conference in Delhi is expected to finalise the roadmap.