Chief election commissioner Gyanesh Kumar said on Saturday that the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls had produced the world’s accurate voter lists, dismissing Opposition’s criticism of the exercise, days after the Supreme Court upheld its validity.
Inaugurating the second National Conference of ECI Counsels at the India International Institute of Democracy and Election Management (IIIDEM) in New Delhi, Kumar said the SIR was being conducted by more than 1.1 million booth level officers, assistant electoral registration officers and electoral registration officers — all state government employees on deputation to the Commission.
Kumar said the SIR had produced “the purest and most accurate electoral rolls in the world, ensuring that every eligible voter is on the list and every ineligible name has been removed.”
“Fair rolls lead to fair polls. That’s the moment today and India is in it,” he added while congratulating voters in Assam, Kerala, Puducherry, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal for their participation in the recently concluded assembly elections.
The remarks come days after a Supreme Court bench comprising Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi held that the SIR exercise furthered the constitutional imperative of free and fair elections and that the measures adopted by the poll panel were legitimate, proportionate and accompanied by adequate procedural safeguards.
{{/usCountry}}The remarks come days after a Supreme Court bench comprising Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi held that the SIR exercise furthered the constitutional imperative of free and fair elections and that the measures adopted by the poll panel were legitimate, proportionate and accompanied by adequate procedural safeguards.
{{/usCountry}}So far, assembly elections have been conducted in six regions where SIR was held and millions of names were deleted. In West Bengal, 9.1 million names were removed and 2.71 million people – placed under a controversial logical discrepancy category – disenfranchised because the appeals process ran out of time.
Kumar emphasised that the exercise was being carried out “under the close watch of more than 15 lakh (1.5 million) booth level agents, district and state presidents of all the national and state political parties,” effectively arguing that the process had multi-party oversight built in at every level.
He lauded these officials for “carrying full transparency in preparing the electoral rolls on their strong shoulders despite adverse pressures day and night.”