Following Bihar, Delhi’s Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) on Wednesday announced preparations for the special intensive revision (SIR) of its electoral rolls have begun. The press note added that the move is in line with the Election Commission of India’s (ECI) efforts to conduct a revision of electoral rolls for the entire country.
When will SIR-2025 begin in Delhi?
The poll panel has uploaded the voter list prepared after the last SIR in 2002 on the Delhi CEO website. The general public has been requested to go through it to verify theirs and their parents’ names. Subsequently, there are two scenarios that will play out.
First, if a present elector’s name appears in both the 2002 and 2025 lists they will only have to submit Enumeration Forms along with an extract of the 2002 voter list.
For context - enumeration forms are distributed by booth level officers (BLOs). The forms have some details printed, like the elector’s name and their photo. The rest is filled by the voter.
What to do if your name is not in the 2002 voter list?
Second, what if the name of a present elector does NOT appear in the 2002 voter list, but that of their parents do? In this case, the elector will have to submit the aforementioned enumeration form and an extract of the 2002 voter list with their parents' names on it. In addition to this, they also have to submit one document proving their eligibility.
Documents for proving eligibility
So far, the poll body has not listed the documents they would accept as proof of eligibility in Delhi. Remember, Bihar’s SIR faced widespread criticism from opposition parties and subsequently by the Supreme Court.
That’s because the Bihar SIR excluded over 65 lakh voters for lack of proper documentation. Moreover, voters were asked to prove their citizenship. Initially, voters were given a list of 11 documents, any one of which could be submitted as proof of eligibility. Aadhaar cards were not part of it. Then on September 9, the SC ordered the ECI to accept Aadhaar as the ‘12th document’ for voters to establish their proof of identity. However, it reiterated that Aadhaar was not proof of citizenship.
As per Delhi’s most recent summary revision, the nation’s capital had over 1.5 crore registered voters with Jan 1, 2025 used as the qualifying date. Of these, over 83 lakhs were men, 71 lakhs were women, with 1,261 identifying as third gender.
