Onmanorama Explains | After Bihar, SIR comes to Kerala. Should voters be wary?

The Special Intensive Revision (SIR), which had triggered fears of massive disenfranchisement in Bihar, will soon begin in Kerala. The declaration of the SIR schedule is expected in October, which will leave seven months for the preparation of a fresh electoral roll before the 2026 Assembly elections in May. The last SIR in Kerala was done in 2002.

The conference of chief electoral officers (CEOs) of all states and Union Territories called by the Election Commission of India (ECI) in New Delhi on September 10 was the ceremonial sounding of the gong before the SIR goes pan India.

While there was speculation that the SIR could be extended to the whole of India, the ECI was actually doing the donkey work for the nationwide rollout of the SIR. "The preparation began the moment the SIR was initiated in Bihar," said Rathan U Kelkar," Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), Kerala.

"When the Bihar schedule was announced, the instructions that came with it said that the SIR has already commenced across the country. Now, we are waiting for state-specific schedules," he said. The CEO expects the Kerala schedule to be announced in October.

On September 10, the ECI was reviewing the preparations made by the states and UTs. "I have already prepared the advertisements. Everything is ready on my end," Kelkar told Onmanorama. He has scheduled a meeting with political parties in Kerala on September 20.

His team has also started matching the 2002 electoral roll (drawn up after the last SIR in Kerala) with the latest electoral roll in its possession (the product of the July Special Summary Revision).

How does SIR differ from SSR?
There are two kinds of revisions: special intensive revision (SIR) and special summary revision (SSR). SSR is done four times a year, and each time the electoral roll will be published for the public to come up with objections and seek corrections.

SIR is very rarely done; the earlier one in Bihar was in 2003 and the last one in Kerala was 2002. It is done to create an electoral roll afresh, and unlike in the case of SSR, will involve house visits by booth-level officers. Here too the draft roll will be published so that it could be vetted and refined by the voters.

The subsequent SSRs will be based on the final electoral roll that is produced by the SIR.

Will Kerala suffer Bihar's fate?
When the draft electoral roll was published in Bihar on August 1, 65 lakh electors who had their names in the 2024 voters' list were found missing.

Kelkar says that a Bihar-like mismatch would not happen in Kerala. "We believe about 80 per cent of the people will map well (names from the 2002 and 2025 lists). Some people might have died, or would have changed location. There is also the possibility that when boundaries were redrawn during the delimitation process, certain voters would have found themselves in another booth of the same or a different constituency. But these mismatches can be verified and rectified," Kelkar said.

There are also the new voters who have been added since 2002. Then, there were 2.24 crore voters. Now it is 2.78 crore, up by 54 lakh.

The SIR enumeration forms will be distributed to all the 2.78 crore voters in the July SSR list (the latest electoral roll with the ECI) to make sure all existing voters are covered.

If at all any voter is not in the draft roll that would be drawn up after the SIR, the CEO has reassuring words. "No eligible voter will miss out. It's our promise. Our support system here is wonderful," Kelkar said.

Can Right to Service nullify SIR fears
The CEO's confidence stems from the Kerala State Right to Service Act, 2012.

As part of SIR, voters will have to fill out an enumeration form with basic details like name, address and a photograph, and then submit it along with one of the 11 documents (now 12, after the Supreme Court's insistence on adding Aadhar card to the list) that the ECI has sought as proof of citizenship.

"We have already conducted a meeting with all the departments that are giving these certificates. Most documents like birth certificates, domicile, land records, passports, and house certificates are covered under the Right to Services Act. The local self government and the finance departments have said that certificates have been issued to everyone who had sought one," Kelkar said.

Under the Act, once a demand is placed for a certificate, it has to be issued within 15 days. But the departments have assured Kelkar that if anyone wants any certificate to prove their citizenship under SIR, it would be provided in seven days.

How will SIR go about
First, enumeration forms (EFs) will be printed and distributed to 2.78 crore voters in the latest Kerala voters' list in the possession of the ECI.

Within three to four days, the EFs along with self-attested proof of citizenship documents will be collected by booth-level officers who will knock on house doors. The BLOs will also help in uploading the forms and the documents on the ECI website.

In another five days, the draft electoral roll will be published. The list will include all electors whose forms have been received before or on the deadline. If no EF has been submitted against a name within the prescribed time, the name will not find a place in the draft roll.

After the draft roll is published, there will be a month for any member of the public to file claims and objections, to ask for a name to be included or excluded.

Daily lists of claims and objections will be displayed at the local offices designated by the CEO and also be published on the Chief Electoral Officer's website. Weekly updates will also be shared with political parties. Final electoral roll will be prepared after disposing of claims and objections.

How will SIR impact citizen
Voters who find their names in the draft roll need not provide any documents. By virtue of their names being in the list, they are voters.

The proof of citizenship is for those whose names are not in the list. And there are three 'date of birth' (DoB) slabs for those not on the list. If born before 1987 and is not on the list, the individual will have to produce any of the 12 documents asked for. No parental history is sought.

Anyone born in India between 1955 and 1987 was considered as citizen of India, no matter from where the parent came.

The Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 1986, enacted to modify the original Citizenship Act, 1955, said that for any child born after July 1, 1987, to be recognised as Indian citizen, at least one parent should be an Indian citizen.

In 2004, the law was further amended to say that any child born after December 3, 2004, will be recognised as Indian citizen only if both parents were Indian citizens or one parent was at least not an illegal migrant.

The other two DoB slabs follow these amendments. Those born after July 1, 1987 and before December 3, 2004, will, therefore, have to produce citizenship proof of one parent, in addition to one of the 12 documents to prove their own citizenship. Those born after 2004 will have to produce documents to prove citizenship of both the parents, in addition to one of the 12 documents to prove their own citizenship.

Will migrants be left out?
Kelkar said there was no basis for the worry. "We have over one lakh overseas electors in our electoral roll. If they are Indian citizens and if they are residents of this place, they can always be part of this electoral process," Kelkar said.

They don't even have to fly down to Kerala for the SIR. "Everything is online. They can submit all the documents online. Bihar migrants, for instance, were asked to take part in the SIR process online, and if possible on our mobile app.