EC sources stated that SIR is a constitutional exercise in accordance with the electoral laws of India (File photo)

NEW DELHI: Three United Nations rapporteurs have flagged concerns regarding the special intensive revision (SIR) process completed in 13 states/UTs and ongoing in others, alleging shortcomings like “opaque AI-driven systems, weak ground for deletion of names, inadequate time given to electors for documentation and objections and the exclusion of minorities”.The allegations on Saturday drew a fierce rebuttal from Election Commission officials, who dismissed the charges as “unfounded” and “unwarranted”.A letter written to the government of India, reportedly on May 1, 2026, by the special UN rapporteur on minority issues, special rapporteur on promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression, and special rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief, had claimed that the SIR process did not give electors a fair window to get their documents in order to prove their eligibility to be in the electoral roll and that the SIR process had led to a notable exclusion of minorities.It even referred to the “political narrative” ahead of the SIR rollout, recalling how some senior ministers had linked deletion of electors’ names to targeting the “illegal Bangladesh immigrants”.EC sources termed the allegations as “baseless”, asserting that the entire SIR process was transparent and executed by state/UT government employees under the watch of political parties.

SIR a transparent process, endorsed by Supreme Court: Poll panel

On the UN rapporteurs concern over what they called: “The large-scale removal of millions of names… particularly affecting members of minority groups”, EC said that ample opportunity was given to electors to challenge the exclusions and that the final voter list did not point to any bias towards minorities. “This is why SC upheld both the intent and process of SIR,” an EC functionary told TOI.Stating that SIR is a constitutional exercise in accordance with the electoral laws of India, EC sources told TOI that the exercise is being conducted across the country by 12 lakh booth-level officers, 4,123 electoral registration officers, nearly 800 district election officers and 36 chief electoral officers.“All these officers executing SIR on the ground are state govt employees, who are on deputation to EC in line with Section 13 of the RP Act,” said an EC official.The official cited Article 326 of the Constitution — which requires an elector to be at least 18 years of age, a citizen of India and not legally disqualified — to underline that SIR ensures that every citizen who meets these criteria is included, while the “absent, shifted, dead, duplicate and foreigners” are weeded out.The UN report mentions SIR in Bengal, particularly its impact on Nandigram. “Muslim voters were reportedly disproportionately impacted… In Nandigram, allegedly 95% of the deleted voters were Muslims, even though Muslims only make up 25% of the constituency’s electorate,” notes the report. It called the ‘targeted deletions’ “serious violations of multiple human rights obligations”.Highlighting that political parties are an integral part of SIR, EC said while field verification of electors is done by BLOs, the voter list in concurrently audited by booth-level agents appointed by six national parties and 67 state-level parties. The decision regarding registration of voters and deletion of ineligible persons is taken by the ERO.“SIR is based on actual field verification of electors, checking of data and verification of documents by electoral staff. No artificial intelligence is used at any stage,” an EC official said, rejecting claims of UN rapporteur regarding the use of AI-driven systems in SIR.The official said after the publication of electoral roll for every booth and assembly constituency, objections can still be raised by anyone against any wrong entry and claims filed for inclusion of eligible electors as part of continuous updation.An EC functionary said the enthusiastic and full-scale participation of nearly 95 crore electors as well as all political parties in “the transparent SIR process” and its endorsement by Supreme Court, is the biggest validation of the exercise.The six assembly polls not only clocked record high voter turnouts since Independence, but the actual number of votes polled too were the highest since Independence.Bengal had recorded 93.7% polling, Puducherry 91.2%, Assam 86.3%, Tamil Nadu 86% and Kerala 79.5% in the April-May polls. Before that, Bihar assembly polls too saw a record 67.3% turnout.