THE Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls in Meghalaya has not been officially announced. The SIR process is usually considered necessary when there are concerns that the voter list may not fully reflect the actual eligible electorate due to several reasons. While the SIR intends to clean up the electoral rolls of voters enrolled at two or three different places because they have migrated for work, etc., the lack of transparency and arbitrary inclusion and exclusion of voters’ names to suit the whims of the ruling establishment has turned it into a politically contentious issue. The Opposition parties have made serious allegations against the present Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar and 193 MPs from the INDIA Bloc sought his removal by Parliament. Across India, SIR has become politically contentious because of the selective deletion of certain voter groups, lack of transparency, and, above all the potential influence on election outcomes. As of April this year, a total of 91 lakh names have been deleted from West Bengal’s voter list since the SIR began. The state’s voters have shrunk almost 12%, from 7.66 crore electors in October 2025 to 6.75 crore now. West Bengal had 7.34 crore eligible voters in the 2021 assembly elections. West Bengal goes to the polls on April 23 with what the Opposition claims is a defective electoral roll where names of largely Muslim voters are arbitrarily removed.
Interestingly in Meghalaya’s Garo Hills, in Phulbari there is a household with 176 voters. In another case a household which had 14 voters in 2005 today has 84 which is a 4000% population growth. Yet another household had people of different religions living under a single roof. Many of these voters’ names were not included in the voters’ list in 2005 so how did their names appear in 2025? These are indeed matters of concern. SIR is intended to remove ineligible or duplicate voters because as stated above electoral rolls can accumulate names of people who have moved away. There could be duplicate entries. Some voters may have died without anyone informing the Election authorities. There may also be individuals who are not eligible because they don’t have the necessary papers to prove their citizenship. An intensive revision helps clean the list so that only valid voters remain.
In Meghalaya the experience is mainly of movement of voters between rural and urban areas, largely towards Shillong. Migration also happens across district boundaries besides students and workers are constantly shifting locations. The SIR ensures that voters are registered where they actually live. Then there is the addition of voters who have become eligible to vote on turning 18. If what is alleged by civil society groups in Garo Hills is correct then Meghalaya requires an SIR but it should not be conducted with ulterior motives and eligible voters should be included in the list. But can this be ensured under the present Election Commission of India (ECI)?
