EC To Announce Pan-India SIR Voters' List on Oct. 27
The ECI is expected to club these states and UT with a few more in the first batch. States having local body polls will be covered in the second phase. It will take about three months for each state to complete the SIR
New Delhi: The Election Commission of India (ECI) will announce the pan-India Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voters' list on Monday. The SIR will be held in two phases with the states and union territories going for assembly polls next year to roll it out first. Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Kerala, Assam and Puducherry are scheduled to go to polls next year. The ECI is expected to club these states and UT with a few more in the first batch. States having local body polls will be covered in the second phase. It will take about three months for each state to complete the SIR.
The ECI had last week held a meeting with Chief Electoral Officers of all states and UT to discuss the roll out of SIR. Political parties have asked their cadres to stay vigilant during the SIR to ensure no genuine names are struck off. ECI is likely to appoint volunteers to assist booth-level officers (BLOs) during the SIR in West Bengal. The volunteers are likely to be drawn from among government employees and help the BLOs fill out enumeration forms in polling stations having more than 1,200 voters.
Meanwhile, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin on Sunday charged the opposition BJP-AIADMK combine with trying to win election through SIR by "snatching away the voting rights" of people. The opposition INDIA bloc and its key constituent DMK have been warning that SIR will be used in Tamil Nadu also for electoral gains.