Next SIR in Telangana, says CEC
Hyderabad: Chief Election Commissioner of India Gyanesh Kumar on Sunday said that the next Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls would be conducted in Telangana, and the state would soon demonstrate to the entire country how it should be conducted, citing Bihar’s recently completed exercise as the benchmark. Addressing Booth Level Officers (BLOs), the CEC said that they formed the backbone of India’s electoral system and that the success of electoral roll purification depended on their diligence and integrity.
He noted that the global community closely watched India’s elections to understand how the world’s largest democracy functioned. Referring to Bihar, Kumar said the massive SIR exercise had been carried out flawlessly, enabling around 75 million voters to participate in the recent Assembly elections. He said the process recorded zero complaints, zero re-polling and zero recounting, and congratulated Bihar’s BLOs for setting a high national standard.
The Chief Election Commissioner said Telangana would enter a new era of electoral administration after the completion of the roll purification exercise.
During his interaction with BLOs, Kumar observed that urban voter apathy remained a key reason for lower polling percentages in cities, while rural voters had consistently shown the way by turning out enthusiastically and standing in long queues. He reiterated that elections in India were conducted strictly in accordance with the law of the land and that all stakeholders were bound to comply with election laws.
Kumar also said India had recently assumed the chairmanship of International IDEA, nearly three decades after becoming a member in 1995, a move he said reflected global recognition of the Election Commission of India as one of the world’s most credible and innovative election management bodies.
Highlighting the scale of India’s democratic exercise, he said the country has more than 900 million electors spread across 28 states and eight Union Territories.