The Election Commission has announced a set of procedural changes for the ongoing Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls, with a focus on reducing the burden on electors who have been issued notices over mapping problems or logical discrepancies.
At a Commission meeting held on September 26, the poll body decided that Booth Level Officers should visit the homes of affected electors, collect the required documents and upload them to the ECINet system for consideration by the Electoral Registration Officer. Under the revised procedure, such electors generally will not be required to appear personally at an ERO or Assistant ERO office. If a hearing is considered necessary in an exceptional case, the Commission said it should preferably be conducted online. An adult family member may also be authorised to attend on behalf of the elector where required.
The Commission also directed District Election Officers to establish help desks or special camps for people who may find the registration process difficult to navigate, including residents of night shelters, labourers, economically vulnerable people and the homeless. It further said the online-hearing facility should be strengthened.
Another element of the decision concerns the ECINet platform. The Commission said field officers have role-based access consistent with their statutory powers and announced a review committee led by a senior Deputy Election Commissioner, with an independent expert from an IIT or IIIT, to examine whether the system complies with election laws and rules. Future major IT initiatives are to be discussed through an officers’ committee before approval.
The changes come amid sustained political scrutiny of the revision process. Opposition parties have questioned aspects of SIR implementation, while the Election Commission and ruling-party leaders have defended the exercise as a measure to improve electoral-roll accuracy. Those competing political claims remain contested and should be assessed separately from the Commission’s formally announced procedures.
For voters, the immediate public-interest consequence is practical: people flagged during SIR may now have documents collected at home rather than being routinely required to travel to an election office. The Commission also extended the claims-and-objections period in Delhi until October 30 following a request from the Chief Electoral Officer there.
The implementation of these safeguards will now depend on how consistently local election officials apply them and how effectively the new help desks, online hearings and ECINet review mechanisms operate on the ground.
