The Election Commission of India is going to conduct a Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar. Bihar is due to hold Assembly elections before November22, which is when the term of the current assembly ends.

This revision exercise requires all voters who were enrolled after 2003, to provide proof of their and their parents’ citizenship, in order to get their names on the electoral rolls.

This elaborate exercise is supposed to be completed in two to three months. It has raised many questions, and fears of mass disenfranchisement, and backdoor implementation of the controversial National Register of Citizens or NRC.

When does the EC normally conduct an SIR? What was the reason for initiating it now, just before State elections? Are the fears of disenfranchisement justified?

Guest: M.G. Devasahayam, a former IAS officer, who is also Co-ordinator, Citizen’s Commission on Elections.

Host: G Sampath. Social Affairs Editor, The Hindu

Edited by Jude Francis Weston

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