Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar has defended the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, saying it has produced the world's most accurate voter lists.
The SIR exercise, which has been conducted by over 1.1 million booth level officers, has removed millions of ineligible names from the electoral rolls.
Kumar said the exercise has ensured that every eligible voter is on the list and every ineligible name has been removed, calling it the 'purest and most accurate electoral rolls in the world'.
The remarks come days after the Supreme Court upheld the validity of the SIR exercise, saying it furthered the constitutional imperative of free and fair elections.
So far, assembly elections have been conducted in six regions where SIR was held, with millions of names deleted. In West Bengal, 9.1 million names were removed and 2.71 million people disenfranchised due to a logical discrepancy.
Kumar praised the officials involved in the exercise, saying they carried out the process with full transparency despite adverse pressures.
