The Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls is a necessary but imperfect instrument of electoral integrity. Critically examine its objectives, procedure, and the challenges it poses for inclusion.

Q. The Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls is a necessary but imperfect instrument of electoral integrity. Critically examine its objectives, procedure, and the challenges it poses for inclusion. (15 marks, 250-350 words)

A clean electoral roll is the foundation of Article 326's universal adult suffrage. SIR — a comprehensive, door-to-door revision ordered by the ECI under Article 324 and Section 21(3) of the Representation of the People Act, 1950 [1] — is therefore indispensable, yet its 2025–26 cycle shows that procedural design, not intent, is where it falters.

Objectives: why SIR is necessary - Purification of rolls by removing dead, duplicate and shifted entries that distort representation and enable impersonation. - Verification of citizenship and residence, since only citizens may be enrolled; the 2025–26 cycle explicitly sought to identify ineligible entrants [2]. - Inclusion of the left-out — the ECI framed the exercise as ensuring no eligible citizen is omitted while ineligible names are deleted [2]. - Scale confirms its necessity: the second phase alone covered 12 States/UTs and about 51 crore electors [2].

Procedure - Booth Level Officers distribute and collect pre-filled enumeration forms house-to-house; the Electoral Registration Officer decides inclusion or deletion. - Publication of a draft roll, followed by a window for claims and objections, hearings, and final publication — the natural-justice limb of the process. - The ECI retains flexibility: schedules in Goa, West Bengal, Rajasthan, Puducherry and Lakshadweep were extended to 19 January 2026 on CEOs' requests [3].

Challenges for inclusion - Documentary burden: requiring proof of date/place of birth even from existing electors disadvantages the elderly, poor, migrant and disaster-affected who lack papers. - Automation without discretion: a system-generated notice asked a decorated 81-year-old former Navy Chief in Goa to appear in person, merely because mandatory fields in his form were blank and the entry went "unmapped" [4] — a failure of administrative proportionality. - Capacity constraints: BLOs on deputation, compressed timelines and legacy data gaps raise the risk of erroneous deletion.

SIR's objective is sound; its execution must shift the burden of proof from the citizen to the State. Presumption in favour of the existing elector, verified exception handling, and speaking orders before deletion would let SIR serve both accuracy and the constitutional promise of the vote.

(~330 words)

Sources: 1. The Representation of the People Act, 1950 (Act No. 43 of 1950), Section 21 — India Code — statutory basis for preparation and special revision of electoral rolls 2. Second Phase of Special Intensive Revision of Electoral Rolls to Cover 12 States and UTs — Akashvani News (Prasar Bharati) — objectives, coverage of 12 States/UTs and ~51 crore electors 3. ECI extends schedule for SIR of electoral rolls in five States/UTs till Jan 19 — Akashvani News — extension of claims-and-objections window 4. Goa SIR: EC clarifies on notice to former Navy chief; cites missing details in enumeration form — ThePrint (PTI) — system-generated notice due to blank mandatory fields and "unmapped" categorisation