EC Confirms SIR to Be Conducted in Bengal and Other States, Dates to Be Announced Soon

On Sunday, the Election Commission of India stated that special intense revision of the electoral roll will be performed in other states like West Bengal and so on just as is being done in Bihar due to elections in the state. It stated that the commissioners of the election will determine when the exercise would be conducted and dates would be later announced.

This remark is in the wake of a growing war of words between the government of West Bengal (run by the Trinamool Congress) and the Election Commission (EC) regarding the special intensive revision (SIR) process.

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“The SIR of electoral rolls in West Bengal and other states will be announced in due course," said chief election commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar, in an interview press conference, when dismissing, rightly, as unfounded the claims of double voting and sometimes the reports of the possibility of vote stealing he said.

The activities of Kumar said that all the stakeholders are making SIR a success in a transparent and open way. The election commissioners, he said, have not yet determined dates of voter list revision in West Bengal and other states.

“…The three election commissioners will decide when the exercise of SIR will be carried out in West Bengal or other states," Kumar said.

Following this revision of the voter list in Bihar, the EC also intends to do a similar one in other states such as West Bengal where assembly elections are due in 2026. Indeed, the chief electoral officer (CEO) of Bengal informed the poll body earlier by a few weeks that the state is ready.

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A day or two back on August 14, however, the Supreme Court said that it will not be considering the SIR issue in West Bengal. It was listening to the issue about the continuous working out by the EC in Bihar.

Justice Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi bench said that the EC would be left with residual powers in conducting such an exercise as it deems itself fit.

On West Bengal it explained that the state could wait till later on because nothing was going on there at the present. The Association For Democratic Reforms (ADR) that had approached court against Bihar SIR, submitted on its own behalf to Bengal.

The counsel of the ADR in its submission informed the court that the CEO of West Bengal had declared the state to be ready to SIR without any consultation with the state government.

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