Pan-India SIR on agenda as poll officers from all states to meet in Delhi: Sources

In a major push to implement the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voter rolls nationwide, Chief Electoral Officers from all states and union territories will gather in the national capital on September 10 to review preparedness with the central poll body, sources told India Today TV.

The move comes as opposition parties and civil society groups approach the Supreme Court, challenging the exercise on grounds that the Election Commission’s specified documents for the intensive revision could deny many citizens their legal right to vote.

However, while refusing to stall the Election Commission's exercise in poll-bound Bihar, the Supreme Court said it was a "constitutional mandate" and added that it would not interfere in the functioning of a constitutional body.

Last month, Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, addressing a press conference in Delhi on the SIR timeline in West Bengal, said an appropriate date to conduct the exercise across the country would be announced soon.

"We three (election) commissioners will decide at an appropriate time and take a decision on when to conduct SIR in West Bengal or other states,” Gyanesh Kumar said, adding, "It will be announced at an appropriate time."

In the recently-concluded SIR exercise in Bihar, 65 lakh names were deleted from the draft electoral list during the initial phase. The last date for filing any claims for inclusion or exclusion from the draft list was on August 31.

The poll body had cited four main reasons for deleting names from the voter list. Of these, 25 lakh were removed citing migration, 22 lakh marked as deceased, 9.7 lakh listed as "not found" at their addresses, and seven lakh struck off for being registered in more than one constituency.

The final electoral roll for Bihar, where Assembly elections are expected in November, is slated to be published on September 30.

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