Amid a raging controversy over the deletion of millions of voters during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in various states, the Election Commission is likely to hold a special summary revision (SSR) of voter rolls in Uttar Pradesh ahead of the assembly elections in the state, people aware of the matter said on Sunday.
Election Commission’s special summary revision
Both SIR and SSR are essentially revision of electoral rolls. The drive is aimed at re-enrolling any genuine or eligible citizens whose names were accidentally omitted during the recent voter list clean-up exercises. CEOs have been directed to facilitate the same. Last month, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav had claimed that the Election Commission of India could undertake another review of electoral rolls in Uttar Pradesh ahead of the assembly elections and urged his party workers to remain vigilant.
However, regarding revision of electoral rolls in the state, he said, “All district electoral officers have been directed to conduct extensive publicity in this regard at the district level through various means, so that as many citizens as possible can receive information. The Election Commission of India has announced a ‘no voter to be left behind’ campaign across 20 states where SIR has been completed to address allegations of indiscriminate deletions of voters. The CEOs, DEOs, EROs will immediately launch a special drive for enrolment of these electors,” the poll body said in a press note issued on September 26. Uttar Pradesh chief electoral officer Navdeep Rinwa said any eligible citizen can apply by filling out Form-6 online through the Election Commission of India’s Citizen Service Portal (voters.eci.gov.in) or the ECINET Mobile App.
However, while SSR is an annual exercise usually taken up ahead of elections, SIR is conducted in decades, the people said.
