Prepare for SIR of electoral rolls: Assam CEO Anurag Goel tells district officials

Goel's order mandates that all electoral registration officers (ERO's), assistant EROs and booth-level officers (BLOs) be in place before the SIR schedule is announced by the EC.

Assam's chief electoral officer (CEO) Anurag Goel has issued a directed to all district administration to prepare for a Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls before the Election Commission releases its schedule, according to a report by TOI.

Goel's order mandates that all electoral registration officers (ERO's), assistant EROs and booth-level officers (BLOs) be in place before the SIR schedule is announced, reported the same publication. Asssam will go to polls early next year for the first time since the redrawing of its 126 constituencies.

The poll body's plan to roll out Special Intensive Revision (SIR) across the country is causing discomfort in Assam which is due for assembly election early next year.

The ruling BJP has expressed support for SIR with Rupam Goswami, convenor, state media department of the BJP, stating that during the ongoing exercise in Bihar, the Election Commission (ECI) discovered a large number of foreign nationals from Bangladesh, Nepal, and Myanmar listed in the state's electoral rolls. Most of these individuals were illegal migrants who work as labourers, and over the years, managed to get their names included in the voters' list through political patronage.

Earlier, The Indian Express quoting officials from Assam, reported that officials from the state have told the Election Commission (EC) that since it is the only state to have already carried out the exercise of preparing the National Register of Citizens (NRC), this should be factored in whenever the poll panel frames its timelines and decides the list of eligibility documents for the state’s special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, The Indian Express has learned.

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Thursday referred to a section of Rahul Gandhi's criticism of the special intensive revision of electoral rolls, contending that the Congress leader extended "indirect support" for the exercise through his comments. Sarma asserted that the SIR is essential for the northeastern state to remove names of "Bangladeshis".

"Rahul Gandhi has himself given a certificate that SIR should be conducted. There should be a unique name along with an Aadhaar number. He (Gandhi) took some North Indian names. In Assam, we have names of Bangladeshis in our voter rolls. The same names are in Barpeta, Guwahati, Kerala and Delhi. It is a disease. That is why SIR is being done in Bihar," Sarma told reporters.

BJP has been repeatedly alleging that the Congress, having relied on illegal Bangladeshi Muslim votes in the past elections, is now apprehensive about losing its vote bank as these ineligible voters were being identified and deleted from the list. During its rule, the Congress went so far as to label lakhs of Gorkhas and indigenous communities as "doubtful voters" and suspended their voting rights.