Hindi English Translation || Editorial || ​Augean mess: On the SIR and the genuine voter

​Augean mess: On the SIR and the genuine voter

The ECI aims to clean the rolls but it is scrubbing off genuine (वास्तविक, असली) voters

With the Election Commission of India (ECI)’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process in its claims and corrections phase, it is prudent (Sensible and careful before taking action) to ask, yet again, whether the entire process to “clean the electoral rolls” has become a dragnet (A wide process that catches many people indiscriminately) affecting genuine electors across 12 States. On Monday, the Supreme Court of India issued fresh (नया ,नए सिरे से) directions to the ECI to “ease the strain and stress (मानसिक और प्रक्रियात्मक बोझ को कम करना)” of millions of electors facing verification notices in West Bengal. Complaints of genuine electors having to run from pillar to post (दर-दर की ठोकरें खाना, एक जगह से दूसरी जगह भटकना) after being sent notices — many are flawed (त्रुटिपूर्ण, दोषपूर्ण) due to errors in the 2002 list used by the ECI for “mapping” or due to glitches (तकनीकी गड़बड़ी) in ad hoc (तदर्थ, बिना पूर्व योजना के किया गया) software — have forced petitioners to raise questions. As seen during the SIR in Bihar, the Court has again had to issue guidelines to ease the process. In the case of Bihar, the Court’s order for Aadhaar to be used as the twelfth identity document provided succour (राहत, सहायता (कठिन परिस्थिति में)) to millions, yet the final electorate numbers showed an egregious (अत्यधिक, घोर, अत्यंत बुरा) anomaly (विसंगति, अनियमितता) — the deletion of more women electors than men, suggesting that the process was flawed to begin with. This was confirmed in The Hindu’s analyses of the deleted electors’ lists in Bihar, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal which had shown anomalies that merited further investigation but did not get the ECI’s response.

In Tamil Nadu, the deletion process has been so aggressive in many booths that the sum of electors who voted in the 2024 general election and names deleted during the SIR reportedly exceeds the total number of electors originally on the rolls. This suggests that genuine electors who voted in 2024 have also been deleted. Furthermore, the process of deduplicating names has, in many cases, resulted in the deletion of electors’ names entirely. While the claims and corrections phase is witnessing lakhs of electors trying to re-enter the rolls, the ECI’s insistence on their registering as fresh electors (using Form 6) is illogical and prevents an audit of how many genuine electors were wrongly removed in the first place. Then there is the incomprehensible mismatch in Uttar Pradesh. The State Election Commission, while preparing rolls for rural body polls, found that its count of the rural electorate alone exceeds the ECI’s count for the entire State in the draft rolls. By not deciding on the constitutionality of this aggressive self-enumeration early on, the Court is now left managing the fallout of a process that has turned the simple act of maintaining an electoral list into one posing a threat to universal adult franchise. The question is no longer just about “cleaning the rolls” but also on whether genuine voters are being scrubbed off.

Courtesy: The Hindu

Important Word List With Meaning

1.Genuine (Adjective)

Hindi Meaning – वास्तविक, असली
English Meaning – Real and legitimate.

2.Fresh (Adjective)

Hindi Meaning – नया ,नए सिरे से
English Meaning – New; starting again from the beginning.

3.Ease the strain and stress (Verb phrase)

Hindi Meaning – मानसिक और प्रक्रियात्मक बोझ को कम करना
English Meaning – Reduce mental and procedural burden.

4.From pillar to post (Idiomatic phrase)

Hindi Meaning – दर-दर की ठोकरें खाना, एक जगह से दूसरी जगह भटकना
English Meaning – Being sent repeatedly to different places without resolution.

5.Flawed (Adjective)

Hindi Meaning – त्रुटिपूर्ण, दोषपूर्ण
English Meaning – Containing mistakes or defects.

6.Glitches (Noun)

Hindi Meaning – तकनीकी गड़बड़ी
English Meaning – Small but disruptive technical faults.

7.Ad hoc (Adjective)

Hindi Meaning – तदर्थ, बिना पूर्व योजना के किया गया
English Meaning – Done without proper planning or structure.

8.Succour (Noun)

Hindi Meaning – राहत, सहायता (कठिन परिस्थिति में)
English Meaning – Help or relief given in a difficult situation.

9.Egregious (Adjective)

Hindi Meaning – अत्यधिक, घोर, अत्यंत बुरा
English Meaning – Shockingly bad or unacceptable.

10.Anomaly (Noun)

Hindi Meaning – विसंगति, अनियमितता
English Meaning – Something that does not fit the normal pattern.

11.Augean (Adjective)

English Meaning – Extremely dirty or corrupt, requiring massive effort to clean or fix.

12.Clean the rolls (Verb phrase)

English Meaning – Remove incorrect or duplicate names from the voter list.

13.Scrubbing off (Phrasal verb)

English Meaning – Removing completely, often forcefully or wrongly.

14.Prudent (Adjective)

English Meaning – Sensible and careful before taking action.

15.Dragnet (Noun)

English Meaning – A wide process that catches many people indiscriminately.