SIR drive in Uttar Pradesh's Bareilly brings estranged sons, daughters back in touch with parents

Bareilly: The ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls in Uttar Pradesh’s Bareilly has reopened long-shut doors, nudging several people, estranged after love marriages, to call home again after years for their old voter details.

Snehlata (40), a resident of Jogi Nawada, had severed ties with her parents 15 years ago, when she left with her partner Omkar Chaudhary. After her family lodged an FIR, she appeared before the court and stated in favour of Chaudhary, following which she cut off all contact with her parents.

During the ongoing SIR drive, officials asked her for her EPIC ID based on the 2003 voter list. Unable to recall the details, Snehlata finally dialled her parents after years of silence, seeking information from the old electoral roll.

Deputy district election officer/additional district magistrate (finance and revenue) said such cases are surfacing frequently during the verification exercise. especially those linked to love marriages. However, the process remains smooth as all information is available on the Election Commission’s website.

If details are missing, applicants may opt for the third category in the SIR enumeration form.

Booth Level Officers (BLOs) across the district have encountered several such cases, where women or men who left home after love marriages were compelled to get in touch with their parents again for voter list details.

A woman hailing from Bulandshahr, Sulekha, and now known as Rihana after embracing Islam post-marriage to Faridpur resident Nawab Hasan, had not spoken to her parents for nearly a decade.

When the SIR form required her father’s EPIC ID and details from the 2003 voter list, she called her mother, leading to an emotional conversation after years of silence.

District officials said that Tiriya Nijawat Khan Nagar Panchayat, where 80 per cent of the population is Muslim, has reported several inter-faith and inter-state love marriages, with men marrying women from Delhi, Jammu and Kashmir, Bengal, Bihar and Odisha.

For many such couples, furnishing ancestral address and voter ID details has now become a challenge.

In Kheda village of Bithri Chainpur Assembly constituency, Ramvir Singh said his son Avdhesh had eloped with a girl from a village 10 years ago, after which both families lost contact.

“Suddenly, he called from Bhavnagar in Gujarat. He and his wife both spoke politely after so many years. He asked for details from the 2003 voter list to register in the current electoral roll,” Singh said.

Similarly, Keshav of Bilpur in Aonla parliamentary constituency said his daughter, who eloped nine years ago with her maternal uncle’s son, also contacted the family after years. “Her words were so emotional that her mother broke down,” he said.

District officials said the SIR exercise has, in several cases, turned into an unlikely bridge, prompting those who had long disappeared from family circles to reconnect in search of old electoral details.