Will the date of SIR be extended in many states including UP or not? Election Commission will take an important decision today

The Election Commission (EC) is considering extending the last date of Special Summary Revision (SIR) in many states including Uttar Pradesh. According to top commission sources, a decision on this will be taken in the high-level meeting of the commission on Thursday, in which the digitization progress so far and the status of form submission will be reviewed. According to sources, West Bengal is also among those states where extension of the date of SIR is being considered. Earlier, the Commission had extended the last date of Kerala from 11th December to 18th December.

Opposition parties are accusing the Election Commission

The move comes at a time when several opposition parties have accused the commission of imposing “impractical deadlines”, putting excessive pressure on voters and Booth Level Officers (BLOs). Congress, Trinamool Congress, CPI(M) and Samajwadi Party (SP) said that the Commission proceeded with the process in a hurry without understanding the ground reality.

Congress leader Pramod Tiwari said the EC had “finally understood” that the amendment could not be completed in such a short period of time. He appealed to the Commission to adhere to the detailed timetable adopted in 2003 and alleged that avoiding discussion in Parliament on SIR showed that the government “does not want to allow Parliament to function”.

SIR process said to be motivated by political motives

TMC said the decision to extend the date proved that the SIR was “poorly drafted” and implemented without adequate basis. TMC leader Jayaprakash Majumdar claimed that at least 40 people, including BLOs, have died so far in West Bengal due to the stress of the amendment work. He described this process as being done in a hurry and motivated by political motives.

In Uttar Pradesh, SP chief Akhilesh Yadav said SIR was proving to be a “big problem” for voters and BLOs. He said that verification of 16 crore voters in a month is impossible.

Date extended in Kerala, will it extend in UP also?

Meanwhile, according to new data from the Election Commission, 50.8 crore enumeration forms have been digitized till one day before the last date, while 23.22 lakh forms are yet to be digitised. SIR Phase-2 started from November 4 and a total of 50.96 crore forms were distributed. So far 2.74 crore forms have been digitized in Kerala, which is approximately 98.5%. For this reason, the Commission has extended the date for submission of forms till December 18. A total of 50.99 crore voters were registered till October 27 in the 12 states/union territories included in SIR Phase-2.

Andaman and Nicobar, Lakshadweep, Madhya Pradesh and Puducherry have completed 100% digitization, while all other states have this figure above 99% – only Kerala lags behind. A formal announcement on extending the date is likely to be made after Thursday’s meeting.