The Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls is a strategic and comprehensive exercise undertaken by the Election Commission of India (ECI) to update, verify, and correct voter lists across the country. Unlike routine annual revisions, SIR involves a time-bound, house-to-house verification drive, usually conducted before major elections or when electoral rolls have not been intensively revised for several years. Its primary aim is to ensure that electoral rolls are accurate, inclusive, and free from errors such as duplicate entries, deceased voters, or ineligible names.

What is Special Intensive Revision (SIR)?

Special Intensive Revision refers to a large-scale revision of electoral rolls carried out under the constitutional and statutory powers of the ECI. It typically involves:

• Fresh enumeration forms

• Door-to-door verification by Booth Level Officers (BLOs)

• Verification of voter documents

• Deletion of ineligible entries

• Inclusion of eligible voters who were earlier omitted

The SIR 2025 in Bihar, where over 8 crore voters were re-verified, is a recent example highlighting the scale of this exercise.

Legal Basis of Special Intensive Revision

The authority for conducting SIR flows from the following provisions:

• Article 324(1) of the Constitution: Grants the ECI powers of superintendence, direction, and control over elections.

• Article 326: Guarantees adult suffrage to all citizens aged 18 years and above.

• Section 21(3) of the Representation of the People Act, 1950: Empowers the ECI to direct a special revision of electoral rolls.

• Registration of Electors Rules, 1960: Prescribes procedures for enrolment and revision, though the term “Special Intensive Revision” is not explicitly mentioned, leading to some legal debate on nomenclature.

Objectives of Special Intensive Revision

The major objectives of conducting SIR include:

• Accuracy: Removing duplicate entries, deceased voters, and ineligible persons.

• Inclusion: Ensuring registration of all eligible citizens, including first-time voters, migrants, and marginalised groups.

• Legitimacy: Strengthening public trust by reinforcing the principle of “one person, one vote”.

• Demographic Adjustment: Reflecting changes due to migration, urbanisation, and newly eligible voters.

• Pre-Election Preparedness: Reducing disputes and logistical challenges during elections.

Significance of Special Intensive Revision

The SIR exercise plays a crucial role in strengthening democracy by:

• Reducing ghost and multiple voters, thereby improving electoral fairness.

• Reflecting demographic realities, especially migration and urban growth.

• Improving inclusion of marginalised groups, such as youth, migrants, and persons with disabilities.

• Enhancing transparency and public confidence in the electoral process.

• Facilitating efficient polling logistics, including rationalisation of polling booths and voter distribution.

Process of Special Intensive Revision

The SIR process involves multiple stages:

1. Notification and Planning: The ECI issues a notification specifying the qualifying date.

2. House-to-House Enumeration: BLOs visit every household to verify voter details and distribute enumeration forms.

3. Submission of Documents: Voters enrolled after a specified cut-off year may be required to submit proof of birth, residence, and parentage.

4. Verification and Revision: Electoral Registration Officers scrutinise data, remove ineligible names, and add eligible voters.

5. Draft Roll Publication: A draft electoral roll is published, inviting objections and claims.

6. Grievance Redressal: Objections are addressed, as mandated by law and judicial directions.

7. Final Roll Publication: The final electoral roll is published and frozen for the upcoming election.

Key Features of Special Intensive Revision

• Comprehensive house-to-house coverage

• Time-bound execution, often before major elections

• Special focus on youth, migrants, and excluded voters

• Use of digital tools, online portals, and SMS alerts

• Stricter document verification norms compared to routine revisions

Case Study: Bihar SIR 2025

The Bihar SIR 2025 illustrates both the scale and complexity of SIR:

• Qualifying date was fixed as 1 July 2025.

• Over 8 crore voters were enumerated with the help of BLOs and volunteers.

• Voters enrolled after January 2003 were required to submit additional documents.

• The Supreme Court directed the ECI to publish details of deleted names for transparency.

• Large-scale booth rationalisation was undertaken to prevent overcrowding.

Case Study: Uttar Pradesh SIR 2026

Following the completion of SIR 2026, the ECI published the draft electoral roll for Uttar Pradesh:

• Out of 15.44 crore registered voters, 12.55 crore names were retained.

• Deletions were based on verified reasons such as death, permanent migration, duplication, incorrect details, or failure to submit documents.

• This exercise marked one of the most extensive electoral roll revisions in the state.

Challenges Associated with Special Intensive Revision

Despite its importance, SIR faces several challenges:

• Risk of disenfranchisement due to strict documentation requirements, especially for the poor and migrants.

• Timing before elections, which may lead to confusion and allegations of bias.

• Legal ambiguity regarding the term “Special Intensive Revision” in statutory rules.

• Resource and staffing constraints, particularly pressure on BLOs.

• Digital divide, affecting rural and low-literacy populations.

• Political objections and litigation, including PILs challenging the exercise.

Booth Level Officers (BLOs): Legal Basis and Role

Under Section 13B of the Representation of the People Act, 1950, Electoral Registration Officers are assisted by Booth Level Officers in preparing and revising electoral rolls. BLOs serve as the grassroots representatives of the Election Commission and are crucial for maintaining roll accuracy at the local level.

Functions of Booth Level Officers

BLOs perform multiple responsibilities, including:

• Assisting in the preparation and revision of electoral rolls

• Verifying voter details through door-to-door enumeration

• Identifying inclusion and exclusion errors

• Receiving claims and objections from voters

• Distributing voter slips and assisting voters at polling stations

• Coordinating with Booth Level Agents (BLAs)

• Conducting voter education under the Systematic Voters’ Education and Electoral Participation (SVEEP) programme

• Promoting ECI’s IT applications and electoral awareness initiatives

Centrality of BLOs During Special Intensive Revision

The role of BLOs becomes especially significant during SIR, as they ensure ground-level verification of voters. By maintaining an accurate and error-free electoral roll at the preparatory stage, BLOs directly contribute to the credibility and legitimacy of elections.

Why BLOs Are Essential for Free and Fair Elections

Elections are not isolated events but a continuous institutional and administrative process. Preparatory stages such as delimitation, voter list revision, and roll verification are as important as polling day itself.

Free and fair elections depend on:

• Accurate electoral rolls

• Transparent nomination and campaigning processes

• Strict enforcement of the Model Code of Conduct

• Effective grievance redressal mechanisms

BLOs form the foundation of this entire system, ensuring that only eligible voters are included and that every eligible citizen is given the opportunity to vote.

Conclusion

The Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls and the work of Booth Level Officers are indispensable to India’s democratic process. While debates around SIR highlight the need for transparency and accountability, they also underline the constitutional responsibility of the ECI to maintain clean electoral rolls.
By operating at the grassroots level, BLOs serve as one of the most critical pillars of India’s electoral integrity, ensuring that elections remain free, fair, and credible in both letter and spirit.

India has witnessed several landmark judicial pronouncements and constitutional commitments aimed at protecting individual rights, dignity, and freedom of choice, irrespective of sex, religion, caste, class, or ethnicity. However, justice is not experienced only through court rulings; it unfolds in everyday spaces such as homes, workplaces, and public areas. The central concern remains whether constitutional guarantees are translated into real safety, dignity, and equality for women.

Meaning of Gender Justice

Gender justice refers to ensuring equality, dignity, and safety for all genders. It does not imply identical treatment for everyone but involves recognising and addressing historical and social disadvantages faced by women.
It brings together three key ideas:

• Gender equality, which ensures equal treatment under the law

• Gender equity, which focuses on fair treatment by correcting disadvantages

• Women’s empowerment, which enables women to exercise control over their lives

Together, these concepts help in achieving substantive justice.

Constitutional Foundations of Gender Justice

The Constitution of India provides a strong legal foundation for gender justice through Fundamental Rights and Directive Principles of State Policy.

• Article 14 guarantees equality before the law.

• Article 15 prohibits discrimination on the ground of sex, while Article 15(3) allows special provisions for women.

• Article 16 ensures equal opportunity in public employment.

• Article 21, through judicial interpretation, includes the rights to dignity, privacy, and personal autonomy.

The Directive Principles, though non-justiciable, strengthen gender justice by guiding state policy.

• Article 39(d) promotes equal pay for equal work.

• Article 42 provides for just working conditions and maternity relief.

Gap Between Constitutional Promise and Social Reality

Despite progressive constitutional safeguards, the situation in homes, workplaces, and public spaces remains complex. While legal frameworks exist, their implementation and social acceptance are often uneven. As a result, many women continue to face discrimination, insecurity, and lack of dignity in daily life.

Political Representation and Gender Justice

The 73rd Constitutional Amendment marked a significant step by reserving one-third of seats for women in Panchayati Raj Institutions. In State of Rajasthan v. Union of India (1993), the Supreme Court upheld this reform as essential for participatory democracy.

However, women remain underrepresented in State Assemblies and Parliament. Although the Women’s Reservation Act, 2023 promises one-third representation in these bodies, its implementation is still pending, limiting women’s access to higher political leadership.

Gender Justice in the Workplace

The Constitution guarantees equal opportunity and equal pay, but judicial intervention has often been required to enforce these rights.

• In Air India v. Nergesh Meerza (1981), the Supreme Court struck down service rules that restricted marriage and motherhood for air hostesses.

• In Mackinnon Mackenzie v. Audrey D’Costa (1987), the Court affirmed that equal pay for equal work is a constitutional obligation.

Despite these judgments, many women, especially in the informal sector, continue to work without security, dignity, or effective protection from harassment.

Property and Inheritance Rights

Traditionally, daughters were denied equal inheritance rights. This began to change with judicial intervention.

• In the Mary Roy case (1986), the Supreme Court ensured equal inheritance rights for Christian women under the Indian Succession Act, 1925.

• In Vineeta Sharma v. Rakesh Sharma (2020), daughters were recognised as equal coparceners under Hindu law.

Despite these rulings, social pressure often forces women to surrender their rightful share of property.

Gender Equality and Religious Practices

The conflict between constitutional equality and religious customs has been visible in places of worship.

• In Indian Young Lawyers Association v. State of Kerala (2018), the Supreme Court allowed women of all ages to enter the Sabarimala Temple.

• In G. Subramanian v. State of Tamil Nadu (2019), discriminatory temple practices were challenged.

These decisions faced strong resistance, showing that social change often lags behind legal reform.

Violence, Safety, and Bodily Autonomy

Gender justice becomes most urgent in cases of violence and bodily autonomy.

• In Vishaka v. State of Rajasthan (1997), the Supreme Court laid down guidelines to prevent sexual harassment at the workplace, later codified in the POSH Act, 2013.

• In Suchita Srivastava v. Chandigarh Administration (2009), the Court affirmed a woman’s right to make decisions regarding her own body.

• The MTP (Amendment) Act, 2021 expanded access to safe abortion.

• In Joseph Shine v. Union of India (2018), adultery was decriminalised, reinforcing women’s dignity and autonomy.

Justice in Everyday Life

Although India has a strong constitutional and judicial framework for gender justice, the gap between law and lived experience remains wide. Justice is often delayed or denied due to social norms, weak enforcement, and cultural resistance.

Conclusion

Gender justice in India is firmly rooted in the Constitution and reinforced by landmark judgments. However, its true realisation depends on effective implementation, legal awareness, social reform, and meaningful representation. The challenge ahead is to ensure that constitutional equality is not merely written in law but experienced in everyday life.

Recently, Ponduru Khadi has been granted the Geographical Indication (GI) tag by the Geographical Indications Registry under the Union Ministry of Commerce and Industry. This recognition provides legal protection to the product and highlights its cultural and economic significance.

About Ponduru Khadi

Ponduru Khadi is a renowned handspun and handwoven cotton fabric originating from Andhra Pradesh. It is locally known as Patnulu and is traditionally produced in Ponduru village, located in the Srikakulam district.

The fabric has been nominated under the One District One Product (ODOP) scheme for the Srikakulam district. During the pre-independence period, Mahatma Gandhi praised the virtues of Ponduru Khadi in Young India, the national weekly edited by him.

Key Characteristics of Ponduru Khadi

Production Process

Ponduru Khadi is produced using three indigenous varieties of cotton—hill cotton, punasa cotton, and red cotton. The cotton is locally grown in and around the Srikakulam district.

The entire process, from raw cotton to finished fabric, is carried out manually, preserving traditional techniques.

Unique Features of Ponduru Khadi

Traditional Cotton Cleaning

A distinctive feature of Ponduru Khadi is the cleaning of cotton using the jawbone of the Valuga fish, a practice that is unique to Ponduru and not followed anywhere else in the world.

Spinning Technique

Ponduru is the only place in India where spinners still use single-spindle charkhas with 24 spokes, popularly known as the “Gandhi Charkha”.

High Yarn Count

The final fabric has a very high yarn count, ranging between 100 and 120 counts, giving Ponduru Khadi its fine texture and superior quality.

Significance of the GI Tag

The GI tag helps in protecting the traditional knowledge of local artisans, preventing misuse of the name Ponduru Khadi, and enhancing market access for weavers. It also promotes rural livelihoods, handloom heritage, and sustainable textile practices.