ECI SIR Phase 2: Election Commission of India (ECI) held a press conference on October 27 and announced the second phase of Special Intensive Revision or SIR of the voter list in 12 states of the country.
Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, while addressing the media along with other officials, said that political parties have many times raised questions on the accuracy and quality of the voter list, after which the Commission has decided to take this step.
In which states will SIR be held?
The Election Commission said that SIR Phase 2 will be done in a total of 12 states. These include- Chhattisgarh, Goa, Gujarat, Kerala, Lakshadweep, Madhya Pradesh, Puducherry, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and Andaman and Nicobar.
be in the eligible voter list
Gyanesh Kumar said that the objective of the Election Commission is that the name of every eligible citizen is correctly recorded in the voter list and no person’s name is added or removed by mistake. He said, “The main objective of SIR is to ensure that every eligible voter gets the right to vote and no citizen is deprived of the opportunity to vote.”
Discussion with officials of all states and union territories
The Chief Election Commissioner said that the Commission has held a meeting with the election officials of all the 36 states and union territories of the country, so that the SIR process can be implemented in a transparent and effective manner. Praising the voters of Bihar, he said, “I wish the 7.5 crore voters of Bihar all the best and salute them for their successful participation in SIR.” Gyanesh Kumar also told that this SIR exercise currently going on is the ninth since independence. The last time such a comprehensive review was done between 2002 and 2004.
Voter list frozen from tonight, new form will be available
The Chief Election Commissioner said that the voter lists of the 12 states where this special revision will be done will be frozen from 12 o’clock tonight. After this, every voter will be given a special enumeration form, which will contain all the information related to his personal information, constituency and polling station. The Commission has directed all the Chief Electoral Officers and District Election Officers to meet all the political parties within the next two days and inform them about the entire process of SIR.
New process of training and form filling
Gyanesh Kumar said that the training of polling personnel for the second phase of SIR will be started from Tuesday, October 28. He said Booth Level Officers (BLOs) will visit every house thrice to ensure that no eligible voter is left out. Voters who have migrated to some other place can now submit their enumeration form online also. The Commission said that this new form will be made available with already filled information like name, constituency, booth number and old photo.
The Chief Election Commissioner appealed, “We request all voters to upload a new color recent photograph in their form, so that mistakes related to identification can be avoided.” Apart from this, Aadhaar number of voters will also be taken during the SIR process, so that the voter list can be made more accurate and updated.