Hello,
The journey of Special Intensive Revision (SIR), the Election Commission of India’s intensive exercise to purify the voter rolls, could have been a smooth journey. But it is not the case, all thanks to the non-stop flip-flop over the rules and procedures governing the process.
The tussle reached the Supreme Court, where the Election Commission of India (ECI) did everything to defend its pet project. During the hearing, the poll body called its own deduplication software defective, claiming its method to manually find duplicates in Bihar’s SIR was far superior to a “random search by software.
However, it seems the ECI soon quietly ate its own words.
In the latest investigation, The Reporters’ Collective has found that despite discrediting its de-duplication software, the ECI has now abruptly reactivated it for ongoing SIR in 12 states.
If this wasn’t enough, the poll body has also deployed another undocumented algorithm without a written protocol.
Read the latest in our ongoing investigation on SIR -
The Reporter’s Collective has been exposing the lacunae in how SIR is being pushed without proper rules and procedures. Our stories under the Electoral Roll Project have highlighted how SIR is being poorly implemented, and many of them reached the apex court.
Your support has made this project possible. Your generosity with your donations and suggestions ensured we remained on track. Please continue to read our work.
Regards,
Mayank Aggarwal
Editor
The Reporters’ Collective