SHILLONG, MAY 12: Meghalaya Chief Electoral Officer Dr BDR Tiwari on Tuesday said the state is ready to conduct the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls and will proceed once the Election Commission of India announces the schedule.
“In respect to SIR, whenever the schedule for Meghalaya is announced by the Election Commission of India, we will go ahead with it,” Tiwari told reporters. “Everything is up to the ECI,” he added.
Explaining the process, Tiwari said SIR involves complete verification of the voter list. “SIR has already happened in two phases, first in Bihar and then in 12 other states,” he said.
He noted that three key cut-off dates will be applied under the Indian Citizenship Act. “First is July 1, 1987. Whoever is born in India before that is an Indian citizen by birth,” he said.
Referring to Meghalaya’s last SIR in 2005, Tiwari said, “Once the previous SIR happened in the state, that deadline will also be taken. It is like December 2004 in Meghalaya. Whoever’s name is there, they just serve the lineage.”
He said voters and new applicants will have to establish lineage for verification. “Lineage to be established further for the verification of the existing voters as well as their mothers or fathers. The grandparents should be voters,” Tiwari said.
“Those who are 18 years and above will have to provide lineage and all previous records about their parents, grandparents along with proof of identity. The list of identity certificates has also been provided by ECI.”
“We do the verification and as it has already happened in other states, similarly Meghalaya is also ready for the SIR exercise as per the schedule announced by ECI,” he added. Tiwari stressed that SIR is a routine exercise.
“SIR is a mandatory exercise. It has been taken up in several states and other states will have to do it. This is not the first time, it has happened several times in the country,” he said. On manpower, he said the existing election machinery is in place.
“Whatever manpower is required from the election side, we are ready. The BLOs, supervisors, EROs, AROs, all election functionaries are already there,” Tiwari said.
He noted that political parties in other states have appointed Booth Level Agents, but response in Meghalaya has been slow.
“We keep requesting political parties to appoint BLAs but somehow that progress is not very proactive,” he said.
“Otherwise, it reflects their confidence and belief in the state election functionaries. Earlier also they had no complaints regarding election machinery conducting the election exercises. It is up to the political parties regarding the appointment of BLAs.”
According to a table-top exercise conducted by the CEO’s office using the 2005 SIR rolls, about 80% of names have been verified in the state.
“That is good in respect to our state,” Tiwari said. Responding to allegations that SIR targets a particular community, he said, “I cannot comment on that but no such complaints have been proven. Everything happens in a very transparent, free and fair manner across the country. We are very confident it will be as per law and done transparently.”
On the timing, Tiwari said, “The census operation is already ongoing as notified. The schedule for SIR will be announced subsequently in the future by the ECI.”
By Our Reporter
