New voters will also have to provide SIR information of their parents to get their names included in the voter list. According to the Election Commission, not only old voters but new voters will also have to provide their information. Also, old voters who did not participate in the previous SIR process will have to provide SIR information of their parents to retain their name in the voter list. In this, new people who want to get their names added in the voter list will also have to provide SIR information of their parents.
By issuing instructions, the Election Commission (EC) has made it mandatory for new voters filling Form 6 to get their names included in the voter list, to provide SIR information of their parents. This announcement was added to the Bihar SIR process started in June last year. New voters had to fill this declaration form along with Form 6. An Election Commission official said, “The filled forms were visible along with the manifesto in the daily SIR bulletin of Bihar.” According to the official, this declaration form was added through instructions and no changes have been made in Form 6.
“This helps in mapping of voters and also reduces the number of documents that new voters have to submit along with their applications.” If a person fills Form 6 online, he cannot proceed further without filling the declaration form. Additionally, the Election Commission has defended the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process of the voter list. The Commission has rejected the concerns of UN reporters and said that this process is transparent and constitutional and it has also got the approval of the Supreme Court.
EC officials said that the objective of SIR is to cover all eligible Indian citizens. Also, names of duplicate, dead, migrated, absentee and foreign voters have to be removed from the voter list.
Responding to allegations of large-scale deletion of names of minority voters at several places including Nandigram in West Bengal, EC officials said voters had ample opportunity to challenge the decision of deletion. He denied any kind of discrimination. In a recent letter to the government, UN Special Rapporteurs have expressed concern over the SIR process and alleged that there is a lack of transparency in this process.
