Electoral Roll Purification: SIR Process Identifies 1,600 Suspected Foreign Nationals Across Six States

The Election Commission's Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process, aimed at purifying electoral rolls, has identified only about 1,600 suspected foreign nationals across six states, despite removing millions of names. This highlights a significant data collection inconsistency among states and raises questions about the scale of the issue of foreign nationals on voter lists.

• 🔍SIR Process Findings

  The SIR process, intended to clean voter lists, found only 1,600 suspected foreign nationals against millions of deletions.

• 🗺️State-Wide Disparity

  Data collection practices varied widely, with Karnataka identifying 716 cases while states like Punjab and Delhi maintained no separate records.

• ⚖️ECI's Clarification

  The Election Commission stated it never asked states to compile separate data on suspected foreign nationals, leading to inconsistent reporting.

Election Commission of India (ECI)

A permanent constitutional body (Article 324) responsible for administering election processes to the national and state legislatures in India. It supervises the preparation of electoral rolls.

Electoral Roll

The official list of eligible voters in a constituency. It is prepared and revised periodically by the Election Commission under the Representation of the People Act, 1950.

Special Intensive Revision (SIR)

A special drive conducted by the Election Commission to intensively review and purify the electoral rolls by identifying and removing ineligible voters, including duplicates, deceased persons, and non-citizens.

• Data: Approximately 1,600 suspected foreign nationals identified in SIR across six states.
• Nodal Body: Election Commission of India (Constitutional body under Article 324).
• Process: Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.

1. Q1Easy

   Which constitutional body is responsible for conducting the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in India?

   • AMinistry of Home Affairs
   • BSupreme Court of India
   • CElection Commission of India
   • DLaw Commission of India
2. Q2Hard

   Consider the following statements regarding the findings of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process:

   1. 1.The SIR process identified approximately 1,600 suspected foreign nationals across six Indian states.
   2. 2.Karnataka reported the highest number of such identifications, while Mizoram reported none.
   3. 3.The Election Commission had mandated all states to maintain a separate record of suspected foreign nationals identified during the SIR.

   Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

   • AOnly 1
   • BOnly 2
   • CBoth 1 and 2
   • DAll three
3. Q3Medium

   According to the news article, how many suspected foreign nationals were identified in the state of Jharkhand during the SIR process?

   • A2
   • B3
   • C419
   • D716
4. Q4Medium

   What is a key implication of the finding that only about 1,600 suspected foreign nationals were identified in the SIR process, as discussed in the article?

   • AIt highlights a potential failure in the identification mechanism or lack of uniform data collection among states.
   • BIt indicates that the SIR process is no longer necessary for electoral roll purification.
   • CIt proves that Indian voter lists are completely free from foreign infiltration.
   • DIt shows that the issue of illegal migration has been successfully resolved.

• Original29 October 2026 · Read story