'No Paperwork' Needed As Election Commission Launches SIR 2.0 For Voter Roll Update

The second phase of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls will do away with paperwork, making the process entirely digital, according to NDTV. The Election Commission has introduced this new format after drawing lessons from the first SIR exercise conducted in Bihar.

Announcing the rollout schedule on Monday, Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar said that within a month of filling out the enumeration form, if a voter’s name does not match between the old and new lists, they will need to submit only one of 12 documents— the 11 accepted during the Bihar SIR and now, Aadhaar.

In Bihar, voters were earlier required to attach one of the 11 documents with their enumeration forms to establish eligibility. The revised system eliminates that step. Kumar said roughly 60 to 70 per cent of voters’ names have already been identified during the mapping of old and new rolls, and citizens can verify their details directly on the Election Commission’s website.

Only those whose names and their parents’ names are missing from both lists will be required to submit documents for inclusion. Taking cues from Bihar, Aadhaar has been added to the list of acceptable documents, and a new scanning feature will allow voters to upload soft copies from home.

According to NDTV, Kumar clarified that there will be no SIR exercise in Assam next year, as the state follows distinct citizenship norms. A separate date for the revision of Assam’s rolls will be announced later.

Unlike in Bihar, the new phase will not rely on de-duplication software to remove duplicate entries. Instead, duplicate enumeration forms will be automatically flagged and excluded. The Commission has urged voters not to submit multiple forms.

NDTV reported that during a Supreme Court hearing on the SIR issue, petitioner Yogendra Yadav had drawn attention to instances of duplicate EPIC numbers following the earlier revision. Responding to a question from NDTV, Kumar said, “We urge people to fill out the enumeration form from only one place. Action may be taken against those who fill out the form from two places.”

The second phase of SIR will be conducted across 12 states and Union Territories, including Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Gujarat, Kerala, Lakshadweep, Madhya Pradesh, Puducherry, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal.

The SIR process was first launched in Bihar in June–July, ahead of the upcoming assembly elections in the state.

(With inputs from NDTV)