The Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls has triggered a major political controversy in Bihar, where assembly polls are due later this year, with the opposition INDIA bloc alleging that it was designed to "benefit the ruling NDA", a charge denied by the Election Commission of India (EC) that is carrying out the exercise.

The issue has also reached the Supreme Court, which will hear petitions on July 10 challenging the Election Commission's decision to carry out the exercise in Bihar.

What is the Special Intensive Revision (SIR)?

The Election Commission on June 24 issued a notification to begin a door-to-door verification of Bihar's eight crore voters.

According to the process, all voters in the state are required to sign enumeration forms, in duplicates, that come with their names, addresses and photographs printed, and return these with fresh photographs along with a valid proof of residence.

However, those whose names were not in the electoral rolls of 2003 will have to provide additional documents, a feature of the SIR that has been the main bone of contention.

The objective of SIR is to ensure that the names of all eligible citizens are included in the electoral rolls so as to enable them to exercise their franchise. The revision is being carried out under Section 21 of the Representation of the People Act (RP Act), which authorises the EC to undertake special revisions at any time for reasons recorded in writing.

The last intensive revision for Bihar was conducted by the poll panel in 2003. The exercise is being executed by one lakh Booth Level Officers (BLOs), aided by four lakh volunteers and thousands of Booth Level Agents (BLAs) nominated by political parties.

The EC has cited large-scale additions and deletions in the electoral rolls over the past 20 years, driven by migration and urbanisation, as a key reason for the fresh revision. The Commission has also noted that the presence of duplicate entries necessitates a clean-up. Although the plan is to extend SIR to the rest of the country, the exercise is currently being rolled out only in Bihar, which heads to polls later this year.

Unlike the 2003 revision where enumerators conducted house-to-house verification using printed voter lists, the 2024 SIR requires voters to proactively submit enumeration forms to BLOs.

Electors registered as of January 2003 do not need to submit additional documents beyond the 2003 roll extract. However, voters added post-2003 must furnish documentation establishing their date and place of birth, along with that of their parent(s), where applicable.