In the country's capital Delhi, the stir has intensified regarding the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) campaign of the voter list being run by the Election Commission before the upcoming assembly elections. Under this verification process, the Election Commission has issued notices to many stalwarts including Union External Affairs Minister Dr. S. Jaishankar and his wife. This list includes not only political personalities, but also many top bureaucrats of the country, heads of investigative agencies and former military officers. As soon as the news of the issue of notice came out, there was a wide discussion in political and administrative circles. Why did External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar get SIR notice According to Election Commission records, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and his wife Kyoko S Jaishankar are registered voters under Sunder Bagh polling station of New Delhi Assembly constituency. During the verification process, their existing voter records could not be directly linked (mapped) to the data of the last SIR in Delhi in 2002. Due to this technical reason, they have been kept in the 'Unmapped with last SIR' category. Election officials have clarified that this is only a normal procedural step taken for re-verification of documents and updating the database. Other senior politicians and their families included in the list Apart from the Foreign Minister, many big faces of Delhi politics and opposition have also been issued notices under this verification process: Manish Sisodia and family: Senior Aam Aadmi Party leader and former Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, his wife Seema Sisodia and his son Mir Sisodia have also received notices. Discrepancies related to name and guardian's details (mismatch) have come to light in the records of family members. Arvind Kejriwal's family: Earlier, notice was issued to former Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, his wife Sunita Kejriwal and their family members keeping them in 'unmapped' category due to lack of complete matching of data with previous records. LK Advani family: The name of Pratibha Advani, daughter of senior BJP leader and former Deputy Prime Minister LK Advani, has also been included in the verification list under this process. John Brittas' family: CPI(M) MP John Brittas' wife Sheba Brittas and son Anand Brittas have been issued notices due to discrepancy in name and relationship details. Chief Minister Rekha Gupta's Record: Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta had also received notice earlier due to technical discrepancy related to age, but after physical verification by Booth Level Officer (BLO), all her documents have been verified and her name has been validated for the final list. Top bureaucrats, former judges and security chiefs also under scanner Many prominent faces of the country's administrative structure have also come under the scanner for this thorough revision of the electoral database: CBI Director Praveen Sood: Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Director Praveen Sood, his wife Vanita Sood and his mother Kamlesh Sood have also received notices under the 'unmapped' category. Former Army Chief: The names of former Army Chief General Upendra Dwivedi and his wife are also included in the process as they were not linked to the previous voter list. Former Supreme Court Judge: Former Supreme Court judge Justice Ranjana Desai and her family members have also been placed in this category. Senior administrative officials: Records of senior officials like Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri, SEBI Chairman Tuhin Kant Pandey, Principal Scientific Advisor to the Prime Minister Ajay Kumar Sood, Health Secretary Punya Salila Srivastava and CAG's Sanjay Murthy are also under the verification process. What is the real meaning of 'Unmapped' and SIR notice? There are many types of confusions in the minds of people regarding this big campaign of voter list. The Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) and Electoral Registration Officers (ERO) of Delhi have clarified the situation and said that receiving the notice does not at all mean deleting the name from the voter list or depriving anyone of voting. In fact, when a citizen's existing voter ID card does not technically match the previous digital records (especially the SIR list of 2002), or there are differences in the spelling of name, father's name and date of birth, the system automatically marks it for verification. Its main objective is to make the electoral records transparent, error-free and 100% accurate. When will the disposal take place and when will the final voter list be released? According to the schedule fixed by the Election Commission, all the voters (be they common citizens or VVIPs) to whom notices have been issued will have to present the necessary identity and residence documents before the concerned Electoral Registration Officer (ERO) or BLO. Last date for disposal of notice: The Commission has set a deadline of October 29 for disposal of the claims and objections received. Publication of final voter list: The final voter list of Delhi will be published on November 4 incorporating all necessary physical verifications and corrections.
