The second phase of the Special In-depth Review of Voter Lists (SIR) has started in 12 states across the country from Tuesday. Learning from Bihar’s experience, the second phase of SIR 2.0 will be completely paperless. That means there will be no paperwork in SIR 2.0.
Announcing the launch date, Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar said that if a voter’s name does not match the old and new voter lists within a month of filling out the enumeration form, they will need to submit only one of 12 documents. These include the 11 documents used in Bihar’s SIR and the newly added Aadhaar card.
In Bihar, voters had to submit one of 11 documents along with the enumeration form. The Election Commissioner added that about 60–70% of voters have already been identified during the mapping of old and new lists. Voters can also check their names on the Election Commission’s official website. Only those whose names, or their parents’ names, are missing from both lists will need to submit documents for inclusion.
He also said that deduplication software will be used to identify and remove duplicate entries. If a voter has two voter ID cards, the software will detect and delete the duplicate automatically.
Assam to Get Separate Notification for SIR
In the second phase, SIR 2.0 will cover Andaman and Nicobar, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Gujarat, Kerala, Lakshadweep, Madhya Pradesh, Puducherry, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal.
When asked why SIR is not happening in Assam, even though elections are due there next year, Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar said Assam has a special rule under the Indian Citizenship Act. A separate notice will be issued for the state. However, the Election Commission has not said when that notice will come or when SIR will start in Assam.
The Chief Election Commissioner also said that every voter must get help. Officers should check carefully so that no valid voter is left out. He ordered daily progress reports and said the voter forms must be printed properly without mistakes. He added that SIR is the pride of the country and the work should be done quickly and correctly.