Delhi poll panel kicks off preparations for SIR in Capital

Approximately 1.56 crore people were on the latest electoral rolls of Delhi, published in January before the February 2025 Assembly polls.

A press note from the Delhi CEO office said the voter list prepared after the intensive review of 2002 has been uploaded on the Delhi CEO website and requested people to go through this to verify their and their parents’ names. “This would be helpful during house-to-house visits by BLOs (Booth Level Officers) during SIR for collecting enumeration forms from the public along with required documents,” it said.

Enumeration forms are those in which some details, like the elector’s name and their photo, are pre-printed, and electors have to fill in the other details.

It said people whose names appear in both the 2002 and 2025 lists will only have to submit enumeration forms (distributed by BLOs) along with an extract of the 2002 voter list.

In case the name of the present elector does not appear in the 2002 voter list, but their parents’ name does, then the elector has to submit one document proving their eligibility to be an elector and an extract of the 2002 voter list with respect to their parents, said the CEO’s office.

It is not clear currently which documents would be accepted by the poll body from Delhi’s electors to prove their eligibility.

As part of the preparations for the intensive revision, BLOs have been appointed in all Assembly Constituencies, and all officials — District Election Officers, Electoral Registration Officers, Assistant Electoral Registration Officers and BLOs — have been imparted necessary training. Mapping of present constituency boundaries has also been done with the 2002 constituency boundaries.

For the Bihar SIR, the Election Commission’s June 24 order required all registered electors to submit a new enumeration form.

All those on the 2003 electoral roll, when the last intensive revision was done in Bihar, could submit an extract of the 2003 electoral roll with their names on it, as the EC order said it would serve as proof of citizenship. For all those who were registered after 2003, the EC required additional documents to prove eligibility.

Electors born before July 1, 1987, were required to provide a document establishing their date and/or place of birth.

For those born between July 1, 1987, and December 2, 2004, a document establishing the date and/or place of birth for the elector, and proof of the date/place of birth of either the mother or the father was required.

For those born after December 2, 2004, proof of date/place of birth of the elector and proof of both parents was needed.

The EC is yet to issue an order for Delhi and other states, so it remains to be seen if the exact process will be followed.

The Bihar revision exercise faced widespread political opposition and significant confusion on the ground over the ECI’s new requirement that even existing electors, if enrolled after 2003, must furnish documentary proof to establish their date and/or place of birth, which is then used to determine citizenship. It triggered concerns over its potential to disenfranchise large numbers of electors.

The EC had given an indicative list of 11 documents, including passport, birth certificate and caste certificate, but left out Aadhaar, ration card and the EC’s own Electors Photo Identity Card (EPIC).

Subsequently, on September 9, the Supreme Court had directed the EC to accept Aadhaar as a 12th document permitted for identification to be included in the final electoral roll.

The Indian Express had reported earlier that the EC held a conference of CEOs of all states and union territories to review preparedness for a nationwide SIR. It also sought suggestions from CEOs on additional documents that can be submitted by electors to prove their eligibility, including citizenship.