"Election Commission Launches Drive to Fix Flawed Roll Revision"
Special Summary Revision (SSR)
the routine annual exercise to update electoral rolls with a fixed qualifying date
Special Intensive Revision (SIR)
a stricter house-to-house re-verification of electoral rolls using enumeration forms and ancestry documents
The Election Commission of India (ECI) gets its power to prepare and revise electoral rolls from Article 324 of the Constitution. This article gives it overall control of elections. The detailed rules come from the Representation of the People Act, 1950 and the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960. Section 21 of the 1950 Act lets the Commission order a special revision of rolls whenever it feels the existing rolls are unreliable. This is different from the normal yearly revision. The normal revision only adds, removes or corrects a few entries. Every year, the Commission normally runs a special summary revision (SSR). This is a routine exercise to enrol new 18-year-olds and update the rolls. It has a fixed qualifying date.
In the past year, this routine SSR was paused. The Commission instead ran a much larger Special Intensive Revision (SIR). This was a stricter, house-to-house re-verification of every elector. It used fresh enumeration forms and ancestry-linked documents. The ECI's own 2002-03 guidelines show that a revision does not need to put this burden on the voter. Older rolls could simply be checked and updated by officials. The current SIR broke from that older, lighter model. It asked electors to prove their link to a past roll. It also used logical-discrepancy checks. This is similar to the approach used in the Assam National Register of Citizens (NRC). In the NRC, heavy documentary verification wrongly excluded a large number of genuine citizens.
Booth Level Officers (BLOs) are drawn from the local administration. They carry out the door-to-door work for both the ordinary SSR and special exercises like the SIR. Such exercises affect the basic right to vote under Article 326's guarantee of universal adult suffrage. They often reach the Supreme Court through public interest petitions. These petitions ask for safeguards against wrongful exclusion.
An electoral roll is the official list of people allowed to vote in a constituency. Being on it is the real gateway to exercising the right to vote. Preparing or revising it has clear stages. Officials visit households and collect forms. They publish a draft roll. They invite claims and objections. These are filed through forms such as Form 6 for new entries and Form 7 for objections to existing entries. Then they settle these before publishing a final roll.
The recent SIR added two features the ordinary SSR does not have. First, it mapped each elector to an older roll. Second, it used logical-discrepancy checks. These checks were meant to catch inconsistent or doubtful entries. These features caused large-scale deletions. This included long-standing voters in several states. The Commission has now launched a dedicated "special drive". …
To enhance the quality of democracy in India the Election Commission of India has proposed electoral reforms in 2016. What are the suggested reforms and how far are they significant to make democracy successful?
Examine the need for electoral reforms as suggested by various committees with particular reference to the 'one nation-one election' principle.
Consider the following statements regarding the revision of electoral rolls in India:
1.The power to order a special revision of electoral rolls beyond the ordinary annual revision is derived from Section 21 of the Representation of the People Act, 1950.
2.Article 326 of the Constitution guarantees universal adult suffrage for elections to the Lok Sabha and State Legislative Assemblies.
3.Booth Level Officers are appointed directly by the President of India for conducting roll verification.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
The 'Anoop Baranwal' judgment of the Supreme Court primarily dealt with which of the following?
With reference to the forms used in electoral roll revision, consider the following pairs:
1.Form 6 — Application for fresh enrolment of a new elector
2.Form 7 — Objection to an existing entry on the electoral roll
3.Form 8 — Correction of entries in the electoral roll
How many of the above pairs are correctly matched?
Which of the following statements about the Election Commission of India is/are correct?
1.It is a three-member body consisting of one Chief Election Commissioner and two Election Commissioners.
2.It derives its powers from Article 324 of the Constitution.
3.It can only revise electoral rolls once every five years, coinciding with general elections.
Select the correct answer using the code given below:
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