India needs SIR for Unique Citizenship Card!

          Indian Democracy  is termed as Deliberative Democracy for its bizzare ways of  management or mismanagement! When we go for  Elections for any public paticipative body (be the Parliament, State assembly, Municipality or even a  Panchayat),  we run helter sketer to  ascertain — who will Vote and  elect a Government or an Assembly: those who  belong to  India or those genuine Citizens who own India?

Nowhere in the world, is  this question as pertinent  as in our democracy. Who are the Citizens or  the Electors to use their right to vote  as enshrined in the Representation of People Act 1950 (Art 224, Sec. 21). There are about 12 to 15 ‘valid Indentity Cards’ (IDs) issued in India to let you vote in an election, but none of these testifies that you are an Indian citizen, except the Passport or the Immigration certificate. The latest list of valid Voter IDs per the RPA 1950 (Art 224 Sec. 21), are: Birth certificate, High School passing out  certificate (Matric or 12th Standard), Bank Certificate, Post Office Certificate, LIC, PSU, Permanent Resident certificate issued by Central or State govt., Forest Right certificate, OBC/SC/ST certificate, Family Register, Land Owner/House Alottment certificate, National Register of Citizenship and Aadhaar Card (as identity verification and not for Citizenship rights) as per the  recent Supreme Court verdict prior to Bihar elections in 2025.

Announcement of draft electoral roles by the Election Commission of India, for  India’s  largest state, Uttar Pradesh on Monday  has started  an unnecessary debate – how many  Voters   have been  deleted, how many have died and how many have shifted out or  how many have  become  Adult  or new Voters ? (and accusing the Election Commission to have done injustice with one politico or the other, in cannivance with the ruling BJP/NDA).  Nobody  is asking  who are the real Citizens  (in the State) at present and   qualified to Vote and elect a Government?   The actual  debate or discussion should  have been on  what sort of Governance or what should be the Agenda Priority for the public or Political Parties or  what kind of Candidates should be elected to rule the state for the next Five years.

As per the  announcement by the state Election Officer Navdeep Rinwa (U.P.), out of 15.44 crore voters,  just 2.89  crore  need to verify their eligibility  as voters (not as Citizens) to sanctify the Electoral rolls and allow only the genuine voters (Citizens) to elect their government next time. As the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) is being conducted by the ECI after about 20 years, it is pertinent to have only the valid Voters/Citizens to enjoy the previlege of electing their govt. or be in the Govt.  By any logic  only a valid  Citizen  should  decide  who  forms the next govt and who  votes for it. So our first  preference  should  be on – Deciding – Who is the Valid  Citizen of India and What is his Undisputable Idendity ID ?                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   The Uttar Pradesh state  CEO has also identified  who are in the  draft  rolls,  needing  verification or  contest their deletion  in the  coming  30 days, upto Feb. 06, 2026. Out of  2.89 crores:  2.17 cr. have shifted out of the state, 46.23 lakhs have died since the last revision of Electoral Rolls, and 25.57  lakhs  have been  registered  at two  or more places. Some Forms have reportedly not been returned by residents, as per the BLO (Booth Level Officers’)  reports. Thus  there should be no ruckus or clamour if any Votes have been deleted or removed, because these 2.89 crore voters  get One Month to furnish  their  proofs (any of the 18 listed above) to prove they  are present at their given address or alive at another location. The political parties, mainly the Opposition leaders  are crying  hoarse that  their  voters; committed voters (sic), have been deleted by the ECI at  the  behest of Ruling Govt. (NDA/BJP).   Why has the Opposition not  pressed into their BLAs (associates) to help furnish the actual information to state CEO.  It has however been  reported  that most  of  those deleted voters are from major citties (Prayagraj, Mathura, Lucknow,  Gorakhpur, Meerutt or Ghaziabad): which  is  surprising. Why the  urban-well educated and informed citizens should  not have  responded  or  documented  their  presence  in the draft Rolls?  Either most of  these  were  illegal  or have moved out or  have died in the intervening period.

The clammer is baseless and everyone knows, the Voter, who is treated as MyBaap at the time of elections are is ignored  (disposed off) as an unnecessary Burden!

Similarly in Tamil Nadu, about 15.2% voters  out of 6.41 Crore didn’t find their names in the Draft Voter list as on Dec. 19, after SIR,  dropping  97.4 lakhs out of ther Rolls, out of which the state CEO reported 53 lakh have shifted, 27 lakh found dead, and 13.68 lakhs untraceable.

In West Bengal  also, out of 7.66 crore, about 58.20 lakh have been deleted as per Dec. 16 SIR  draft report. leaving just 7.08 crore Eligible Voters. The deleted or unverified voters have a month upto Jan. 15, 2026 to provide the BLOs or area SDMs proofs of their existence. The West Bengal’s firebrand Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has threatened to file a pettition in  the  Supreme Court, though there’s no reason to challenge the ECI  in the Apex Court. The honorable Supreme Court has already vetted the SIR provisions and given clearance  prior to Bihar assembly polls last year.

Even in Gujarat, over 14.5% voters have been deleted in the SIR  and await  final verification by Feb. 06.

With this round of SIR campaign over half of the genuine Indian Electorate will be verified  in 15 plus states and  bogus voters would be eliminated, establishing Strategic Electoral Integrity of the lists.

Now, the effort should be  to co-relate all the data verified thru’ SIR, with various other platforms like Birth certificates, school certificates, Bank account Nos. and Passports  etc. to make a final and  verified  Citizenship Register and issue Unique Citizenship IDs.  The Citizenship ID would have all vital information about residential address, family, health, financial status etc.  and may be updated from time to time.

Every genuine citizen should possess the Unique Citizenship ID and be proud to carry it with him/her, wherever required!

                                                                                                                                                                                                              –Editor