"Public Audit Flags Flaws in Delhi's Special Intensive Revision"
SIR (Special Intensive Revision)
A door-to-door electoral roll revision requiring fresh enumeration forms from voters.
ASDD category
Provisional tag for voters marked absent, shifted, dead, or duplicate during roll revision.
The Election Commission of India (ECI) derives its authority from Article 324 of the Constitution, which vests it with the "superintendence, direction and control" of the preparation of electoral rolls and the conduct of elections to Parliament, State legislatures, and the offices of President and Vice-President. The mechanics of preparing and revising electoral rolls are governed by the Representation of the People Act, 1950, while the Representation of the People Act, 1951 governs the actual conduct of elections and election disputes. Article 326 guarantees universal adult suffrage, and the 61st Constitutional Amendment (1988) lowered the voting age from 21 to 18 years to widen this guarantee.
Electoral rolls have historically been updated through periodic summary revisions and less frequent intensive revisions, in which Booth Level Officers (BLOs) verify entries door to door against the existing frozen roll. Earlier intensive revisions used the last verified roll as the base and checked only additions or deletions against it, preserving continuity for already-verified voters. The Special Intensive Revision (SIR) launched across several states departs from this precedent: instead of verifying against the existing roll, it requires citizens to fill fresh enumeration forms and, in some cases, prove citizenship by tracing their own or an ancestor's name back to an earlier base roll.
Under the SIR framework, voters whom BLOs could not verify are placed in an "ASDD" category, absent, shifted, dead, or duplicate, and provisionally deleted in the draft roll. Voters can contest such deletions, or seek fresh inclusion, by filing claims and objections with the Electoral Registration Officer, with appeal routes running up to the state's Chief Electoral Officer and eventually the ECI itself. The election manual also provides for public hearings at the panchayat, ward, or booth level before any name is added or deleted, so that errors are caught locally before becoming final.
This design creates a structural accountability problem: the same administrative hierarchy that verifies entries and marks names for deletion is also the body that hears appeals against its own errors. …
To what extent, in your view, is the Parliament able to ensure accountability of the executive in India?
Consider the following statements regarding the Election Commission of India:
1.Article 324 of the Constitution vests the Commission with superintendence, direction, and control of the preparation of electoral rolls.
2.The Representation of the People Act, 1951 governs the preparation and revision of electoral rolls.
3.Courts are barred from interfering in electoral matters except through an election petition filed after the poll.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
Which of the following correctly matches the Constitutional Article with its provision related to elections?
With reference to the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC), consider the following statements:
1.The CEC can be removed from office only through a process similar to the removal of a Supreme Court judge.
2.Other Election Commissioners can be removed on the recommendation of the Chief Election Commissioner.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
Which of the following statements about the appointment of the Chief Election Commissioner and Election Commissioners is correct?
The 'de novo' filing of enumeration forms in a Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls primarily differs from earlier intensive revision practice in which of the following ways?
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