After Bihar, Rajasthan is now gearing up for a Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voter lists in the state. Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of Rajasthan, Naveen Mahajan, has begun holding meetings with district officials regarding the exercise.
“The objective of the SIR program is to ensure the purification and transparency of voter lists so that every eligible citizen can exercise their franchise properly,” said the CEO during a meeting with Divisional Commissioners, District Election Officers, and Subordinate Electoral Registration Officers of the Ajmer and Bikaner Divisions.
Additionally, 43 master trainers for 41 districts have been trained for the SIR initiative. These trainers will now educate Booth Level Officers (BLOs) in their respective districts to conduct door-to-door surveys for correcting and updating voter lists.
Mahajan directed the establishment of help desks from the Gram Panchayat to the district level and emphasized that personnel appointed to these help desks must be fully informed about the SIR program and its guidelines.
The last Special Intensive Revision of voter lists in Rajasthan was conducted in 2002–03. Since then, only annual revisions have taken place.
Mahajan stated that necessary human resources like BLOs, information assistants, supervisors, and volunteers will be appointed in the coming days. He also instructed the formation of special inspection teams for random checks to ensure that no eligible person is deprived of their voting rights.
The rationalisation of polling stations based on the number of voters, distance, accessibility, convenience, and availability of basic facilities will also be part of this exercise.
Notably, there are 5.75 crore voters in the state, who will now be required to furnish the documents mandated by the Election Commission of India (ECI).
