Punjab focuses on flood relief ops, procuring paddy; Haryana set to work on new voter list

“Flood recovery is more important than undertaking SIR as elections in Punjab will be held only in early 2027,” a source privy to the meeting had said. “We still have over a year. Then what is the hurry? We can first finish with our flood recovery first… SIR can wait.”

The procurement process has been started a fortnight in advance, the source said.

The paddy procurement operation in Punjab is massive with over 2,700 mandis involved, the source said.

“No government can afford to botch it up as paddy grains worth over Rs 40,000 crore are procured. Any delay in procurement becomes a huge political issue.”

The process of implementing SIR will be started later, the source said, adding that “The ECI was in agreement that it could be undertaken later.”

The last SIR in Punjab was conducted in 2003.

However, after that, Special Summary Revision (SSR) is being done almost every year. It is an important step to ensure that the rolls are accurate, inclusive and transparent.

In the SSR, new voters are added and the names of those who have passed away or moved to other states are deleted. However, the entire voter list is not revised.

The SSR is already underway in the Taran Tarn Assembly segment, which will go to by-election before December 29.
The ECI had issued the schedule for the SSR of the electoral roll in view of the upcoming by-election.

Sibin had said the summary revision would be carried out with reference to July 1, 2025, as the qualifying date and the process of rationalisation of pilling station, publication of integrated draft electoral roll, period of filing claims & objections, disposal of claims and objections. The final publication of electoral rolls would be completed by September 30.

On the other hand, the neighbouring state of Haryana has set the ball rolling for SIR.

Haryana Chief Electoral Officer A Sreenivas has issued directions to all the concerned officials ensuring strict compliance with the rules issued by the EC regarding implementation of SIR across the country.

On September 15 while chairing a video-conferencing of all the District Electoral Officers, Sreenivas said, “The ECI had organised a meeting of Chief Electoral Officers of all states on September 10.” Sreenivas had asked the DEOs and Electoral Registration Officers to ensure compliance with the instructions issued by the EC regarding SIR.
“According to the guidelines of the Commission regarding SIR, the new voter list will be prepared. The Commission has directed that all BLOs will match the current voter list of Haryana with the voter list of 2002, by October 20. If a voter’s name is registered in both voter lists, they will not be required to provide any documents”, Sreenivas had said.

He had also directed all the DEOs that appointments should be made soon “in places where the post of BLO is vacant” so that there is no delay in preparing the new voter list. “Apart from this, officers and employees related to SIR should be given training.”

Sreenivas had said that the BLOs will visit the voter’s house to fill the enumeration form for the new voter list. The voter will fill two copies of the form — out of which, one will remain with the voter while the BLO will take the other copy.

“As per the directions of the Election Commission of India, rationalisation of polling stations will be done on the basis of the maximum number of 1,200 voters. If there are more than 1,200 voters, then a new polling station should be created,” he had said.

Timely meetings should be organised with representatives of all recognised national and state-level political parties located in the district, the Haryana electoral officer said, adding that the list of booth level agents (BLAs) should be obtained.

“In addition, the printing of enumeration sheets and their timely availability to BLOs should be ensured.”
Sreenivas had also said, “All registered voters of the state, the youth who are eligible to become voters and representatives of all political parties are urged to extend their cooperation in the SIR being carried out to prepare an error-free voter list of the state.”

The published voter lists of the year 2024 are available on the department’s website for the convenience of the general public, he had said.

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