New Delhi: Organisations and representatives from different parts of the country today came together to launch the NO SIR National Platform, calling for coordinators action against the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls and its reported impact on voters across states.
At a press conference at the Press Club of India, New Delhi, representatives from different states placed their respective state-level experiences on record and announced a joint programme of public verification, people’s tribunals, meetings and other actions aimed at full withdrawal and cancellation of SIR.
The platform said that the experiences being reported from different states point to what it described as “Massive Manipulation & Mass Massacre of Our Voter List” and a Rigged Electoral System. It said that concerns over the electoral process have been compounded by the loss of public trust in the Election Commission of India (ECI), which, according to the platform, has been further confirmed by the conduct and statements of two Commissioners.
The organisations said that the issue cannot be treated as a matter concerning individual states alone. They called for organisations and movements across the country to combine their efforts and continue state-wise action against the deletion or exclusion of eligible voters.
Demands for reversal of SIR and restoration of electoral rolls
The NO SIR National Platform placed the following demands:
- Scrap SIR: Reverse SIR and restore the pre-SIR electoral list.
- Remove CEC Gyanesh Kumar and initiate criminal proceedings for illegal deletion of millions of voters across the country.
- Amend the law relating to appointment of election commissioners and reconstitute the ECI Selection panel to remove majority control of the ruling party.
- No further elections should be conducted on the basis of the SIR lists in West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh and Punjab.
- The voter lists affected by SIR should be reset and subjected to public verification.
- The concerns arising from the present process should be investigated and appropriate proceedings initiated where violations are established.
The platform said that selective deletion of voters is not merely a political issue. It described such deletion as deliberately carried out with the intention of spreading hate, exclusion and divisiveness, and said that the consequences extend beyond the right to vote.
Representatives said that the consequences of exclusion from electoral rolls are also affecting people’s access to documents, entitlements and livelihood-related processes. They specifically raised concerns about the non-issuance of caste certificates in cases where people are facing difficulties in establishing their inclusion in the relevant records.
The platform said that the burden of the process is being experienced by migrant labourers, youth, OBCs, Muslims, Dalits and Adivasis, among others, and that affected people are reporting suffering and trauma as a result of uncertainty over their citizenship-related and electoral documentation.
The organisations said they have collected evidence and case studies from different parts of the country and will bring these experiences into the public domain through the platform’s forthcoming programmes.
On the question of alleged infiltration, the platform said that it has found no evidence of infiltrators in the cases being raised through its work, and neither has the ECI presented any evidence of ‘largescale presence’ of foreign nationals in electoral rolls. It also said that claims surrounding infiltration must not be used to justify the exclusion of genuine voters.
National Mobilisation
The NO SIR National Platform said the response to SIR must involve a broad range of mass organisations, including trade unions and civil society organisations working to safeguard democratic rights.
The platform announced that state-level actions will continue and that public verification of electoral rolls in all SIR-affected states will remain an ongoing part of its programme.
The representatives said that the objective is to document the experiences of affected people, place evidence before the public and create a coordinated national response to the concerns arising from SIR.
The platform announced the following programme:
- 7 October: State-level meeting in Bengaluru.
- 8-10 October: State-level meetings in Delhi.
- 14 October: Meeting of mass organisations.
- 15 October: National People’s Tribunal on SIR, with affected persons from all states.
- State-wise public verification in all SIR-affected states will continue.
- State-wise people’s tribunals, case studies and documentation of individual experiences will be organised.
- Youth meetings will be held as part of the state-level mobilisation.
The platform said that the National People’s Tribunal on 15 October will bring together affected persons from different states to place their experiences and evidence before a wider public.
Nadeem Khan said that in the Delhi SIR, the names of the Chief Minister and the HRD Minister were deleted. But this has not started today; it began 1.5 years ago from Bihar, and names are being removed. In Bengal, names were made to disappear in the name of ‘logical discrepancy’ even though the person had the papers.
Earlier, the voters chose the government in 2024, and now the government will choose its own voters and put the burden of proof on the person who is unable to arrange even two meals a day.
Sabir Ahmad said, “A lot has been affected and, you know, not only the voters’ deletion and voters’ removal, the majority of women who were deleted and removed, so not only this, the other aspect of this SIR is there’s a lot of wastage, be it in terms of money that, like, wasted.” He mentioned the number of 4,000 crore rupees, and then schools were closed, and then he called for scraping SIR.
Praveen Peter said, “Logical discrepancies are the most illogical software or toolkit they’ve utilised to delete people’s names, because in Adivasi community Pahan’s son, there is a segment, Pahan, whose son could be a Kujur as well as both. So because of the name mismatch, they’re deleting the vote.”
Shahid Kamaal said, “We met all the people, uh, who were removed, but the people who were added, we could not have their contacts or details much. So it’s like, we don’t know who are being added, but if we know the people who are being removed, they are either being declared dead or shifted or some other thing has happened. But the people who have been added here, we have no clue about them.”
Noor Sridhar said, “We formed an anti-SIR reliance/citizen network where we try and do investigation on ground and what we have figured out that the ECI data has a lot of discrepancies from the data from the field investigation that we did, because ECI data speaks about 20% deletion and around 47% deletion in Bengaluru itself, and rest is like, if they are not deleted, then they have been sent notices, and major top deletion are from the areas which are SC, ST, and minority dominated. So, with most people, they don’t even know if they are, they have their names or not, and everything, and among those, women have more percentage of deletion.”
Nikhil said, “Irrespective of what cases, what states we’re talking about, the 13 crore total deletion in this SIR is a big black spot on democracy.”
Ajit Jha said, “This entire SIR process is a fraudulent process. The real aim is to make sure that ECI is working as an instrument of the government and the vote differences that are seen, and that we record is only possible if there is a vote chori, and that is what has happened.”
Charan Singh said, “As you saw with the farmers, even though 750 of them had to give their lives as martyrs, we brought the government to its knees. Sir, this is a conspiracy to make democracy a hostage. All the farmer organisations will fight strongly against it. The way this government wants to keep power in its hands, these people are continuously succeeding through SIR. These people are in a position to get anything done. In 1857 our ancestors fought, and this time we will fight. This is the battle for the second freedom. This country became free because the blood of Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, and Christians, all of them, is in the fight for its freedom. This fight is not against Gyanesh Kumar, this fight is against the government. Everyone will have to fight united. People are alive in this country; we still have the strength to fight.”
Tara Rao opined, “This is a massacre of the voter list. It’s primarily based on hate and prejudice, and if the people don’t come on the street, who will? Scrap SIR, remove CEC, and call for criminal proceedings. And we will not let the election happen again, based on this SIR.”
Prakash Raj observed, “The immersion of Ganesh ji has already been done in the country, now Gyanesh ji’s is yet to be done. We knew in Karnataka that SIR is a conspiracy, a trap. This Ranga-Billa government, when the ECI was selected in 2023, we were waiting to see what the ECI was going to do now. Within 6 months, what was the need for SIR? When thieves have to commit a theft in a village, they put hay outside the village and set it on fire, so that the villagers go out to watch it. And from behind, the thieves enter the village and commit the theft. This government is doing exactly this. We are dimagi Naxals and they are desh drohi.”
The organisations said they will continue to work collectively across states and bring state-specific evidence, case studies and testimonies into the national discussion on electoral rolls, democratic rights and the functioning of the electoral system.
