The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Thursday ordered a Special Summary Revision (SSR) of electoral rolls in 17 states and Union Territories, focused on including new voters and those left out by the controversial Special Intensive Revision (SIR), amid a raging controversy over the SIR.
Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Chandigarh, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Daman and Diu, Haryana, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, NCT of Delhi, Odisha, Sikkim, Tripura, and Telangana), the schedule for SSR will be announced later. “In States/UTs where SIR is going on or has just been completed (viz. Also, for the 3 States/UTs namely Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh, where SIR has not been started so far, schedule for roll revision will be announced in due course of time keeping in view their weather conditions,” the order added.
The order comes amid continuing protests over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. Opposition parties have raised concerns about the deletion of names during the exercise. The summary revision now focuses on inclusion.
The order comes amid continuing protests over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. The Opposition, INDIA bloc parties, and the youth group Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) are protesting in the national capital and have demanded the removal of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. It makes no reference to the additional SIR declaration.
Opposition parties have raised concerns about the deletion of names during the exercise, and one point of dispute has been the additional declaration that applicants had to submit with Form 6 while SIR was underway. That declaration, one of the issues at the centre of the row, wanted applicants to map their parents to the last SIR, held about 20 years ago, just as existing voters had to under the SIR. Claims for inclusion are to be made in Form 6, the order says. In an October 7 clarification, the commission had said the declaration was an additional document used only in states and UTs where SIR is being conducted. It said the ordinary forms prescribed under the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960, apply in the non-SIR period.
