Team Goemkarponn
PANAJI: Chief Minister Pramod Sawant said the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls is not a new process and has been part of India’s electoral system for decades.
Sawant said intensive revisions, also referred to as deep revisions, have been undertaken at various points since the early years of the country’s electoral system. Such exercises were carried out in 1952–56, 1957, 1961, 1965, 1966, 1983–84, 1987–89, 1992, 1993, 1995, 2002, 2003 and 2004.
According to the Chief Minister, these revisions involved door-to-door verification, distribution and collection of enumeration forms, and verification of voter records. The exercises were conducted under different Chief Election Commissioners and governments over several decades.
Sawant said periodic intensive revision of electoral rolls is necessary as demographic and residential patterns continue to change. Rapid urbanisation and migration can affect voter lists, while new voters attain the age of 18, people pass away and voters shift their places of residence.
He also pointed to the possibility of voters being registered at more than one location, making periodic verification important to maintain the accuracy of electoral rolls.
“The objective is simple and fundamental to a healthy democracy: every eligible citizen should be on the electoral roll, and no eligible voter should be left out,” Sawant said.
He said the current SIR should therefore be viewed as the next step in a long-standing electoral process aimed at keeping voter lists accurate and up to date.
