The committee’s recommendations come even as political parties in many states like West Bengal have raised questions about the entire process, alleging that the names of many genuine voters have been erased. File | Photo credit: PTI
A parliamentary standing committee has asked the Election Commission to ensure that no genuine voter is excluded from the electoral rolls or subjected to undue hardship during the Special Intensive Review (SIR), which has ended in many states and will soon begin in others.
The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Personnel, Public Grievances, Law and Justice, in its report tabled in Parliament this week, said the revision of electoral rolls should be done in a fair, transparent and inclusive manner. It sought adequate safeguards for vulnerable groups, including the elderly, the disabled, economically weaker groups and immigrants.
The committee’s recommendations come even as political parties in many states like West Bengal have raised questions about the entire process, alleging that the names of many genuine voters have been erased. While the SIR process has been completed in 11 states and Union territories, the EC has asked 22 other states to start preparations for the exercise.
The final electoral roll of Uttar Pradesh is to be published in April. In West Bengal, judicial officials are trying the names of about 60.06 million voters whose data had “logical inconsistencies”. The names cleared by the officials will be added to the electoral roll through the supplementary list.
Monitoring mechanism
A report tabled in Parliament on 16 March said: “The committee notes the proposed door-to-door verification by booth-level officials and the uploading of relevant documents to ECINET (Electoral Commission Integrated Network) with limited access, as well as the involvement of political parties through booth-level agents”.
It therefore recommends that the Election Commission of India put in place robust monitoring mechanisms at all levels to ensure uniform implementation of the review process while ensuring strict adherence to privacy and security protocols in respect of documents uploaded to ECINET.
“These measures, in the committee’s view, would help increase transparency and strengthen public confidence in the integrity of electoral rolls,” the multi-party panel, headed by senior BJP MP Brij Lal, said in a report.
Published – 21 March 2026 20:58 IST
