Inclusion, not deletion, must be SIR mantra

The Election Commission of India (ECI)’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, scheduled to begin on June 20 in Karnataka and a few other states, is being projected as a long-overdue exercise in electoral hygiene.

On paper, the objective is unimpeachable: remove duplicate and deceased voters, correct discrepancies, and add newly eligible citizens to the rolls. A clean electoral register is fundamental to the credibility of democracy.

However, the experience of similar exercises elsewhere, particularly in West Bengal, where about 27 lakh living voters were deleted after being flagged for ‘logical discrepancies’, has triggered deep apprehension that this may become an exercise in exclusion rather than inclusion.

These were not ghost voters or fictitious entries; many were ordinary citizens who had voted for years. Even after judicial intervention and review mechanisms, a majority of these remained disenfranchised, with the Supreme Court of India ultimately declining relief to those excluded. The episode has cast a long shadow over Karnataka’s forthcoming exercise.

Chief Electoral Officer V Anbu Kumar’s assurance that no eligible voter will be left out is welcome. Yet scepticism persists, particularly over ‘progeny mapping’ — linking voters to parents or spouses to detect irregularities. This may appear technologically sound, but Indian social realities rarely fit algorithmic templates.

Women often change names after marriage; initials differ across generations; names are spelt differently across school records, Aadhaar cards, ration cards, and electoral rolls. In many rural and marginalised communities, documentation is patchy. Such inconsistencies cannot automatically become grounds for exclusion.

It is encouraging that both the Congress and the BJP have formed teams to monitor the revision. Their involvement can strengthen transparency and assist vulnerable voters. But parties must treat this as a democratic responsibility, not merely an electoral calculation. Complaining after names disappear will be futile if vigilance is absent now.

The ECI once took pride in how many citizens it brought into the democratic fold. Increasingly, however, the emphasis appears to have shifted towards how many names can be deleted. Certainly, dead and duplicate entries must go. But the balance between cleansing and exclusion is delicate. The spirit guiding this exercise should resemble the Aadhaar enrolment drive, where the emphasis was overwhelmingly on inclusion.

Even those without formal documents — the homeless — were given identity because the system sought to recognise, not reject, them. The commission should also give a strong push to online enrolment to reduce pressure on the system and encourage better participation.

The right to vote lies at the heart of constitutional democracy, which is strengthened not by disenfranchisement, but by enfranchisement. Karnataka’s SIR must become an exercise in expanding democratic confidence, not shrinking it.

Disclaimer: The views expressed above are the author's own. They do not necessarily reflect the views of DH.