“Voter list needs to be updated before every election as part of law”: CEC Gyanesh Kumar amid opposition criticism

Firozabad: As opposition parties continue to raise concerns over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR), which is to be carried out in Bihar, Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar on Saturday said it is a general practice to update the voter list before every election as a part of the law.

CEC Kumar said opposition parties themselves in the past have complained about issues pertaining to the voter list.

“As part of the law, before every election, the voter list needs to be updated. A detailed investigation of the voter list and all voter details was not conducted after January 1, 2003. This is supposed to be a general practice,” he said.

“Nearly every political party complained about issues in the authenticity of the voter list, and demanded updates. More than 1 lakh booth-level officers are working on it with the support of all political parties. No ineligible person will be able to make it into this list,” the Chief Election Commissioner told reporters.

The Special Intensive Revision is a focused voter list update exercise conducted by the Election Commission of India (ECI) to ensure electoral rolls are accurate ahead of upcoming elections.

Earlier today, Congress leader Sachin Pilot raised concerns over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls being conducted in Bihar, questioning the Election Commission’s “haste” and said EC should carry out its work in a “transparent manner.”

Speaking to reporters in Dausa, Rajasthan, Pilot said, “The haste with which the Election Commission has taken this step raises significant doubts, and a group of opposition parties met them and asked questions, but no satisfactory answers were received.”

Opposition parties, including the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), have expressed concern that the SIR process may be misused to disenfranchise voters, particularly the poor and marginalised communities.

In response, the ECI stated that the exercise is being conducted strictly in line with the provisions of Article 326 of the Constitution and the Representation of the People Act of 1950. It said the aim is to remove ineligible entries while ensuring that no eligible voter is left out.