AHMEDABAD: RTI activists have highlighted significant procedural changes in the way the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voter lists is conducted by the Election Commission of India (ECI), comparing the 2002 process with the 2025 process. He said that while in 2002, the enumerator was responsible for updating the voter lists, in 2025, the onus is on the voters to establish and ensure that their name is on the voter list.Activists said that the SIR of 2001-02, which was called Special Revision of Intensive Nature, had a provision for making all types of amendments in voter details, but the current SIR does not have that provision.Santosh Singh Rathod, an RTI activist who sought information under RTI from the Election Commission of India, said that three types of registers were created in the 2002 SIR – the first to list the details of voters such as changes in spelling and the like, the second for those who had an EPIC but their names were not in the voters’ list, and the third to list the names of voters who had shifted out of their constituencies.Rathod said, “The primary objective of the SIR in 2002 was to include more voters in the electoral rolls. A document, such as a registered postal letter, sent in a person’s name to their registered address, was enough to confirm their place of residence.”Rathod said the 2002 SIR did not include a clause requiring voters to provide details of their family members or relatives if the voter’s name was not included in the earlier SIR.Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR) state coordinator Pankti Jog said the fundamental difference between the role of BLOs in the current SIR and the role of enumerators in 2002 is significant. “In 2002, the enumerator was responsible and accountable for all changes made by the voters. All proposed changes had to be noted by the enumerator in the presence of the voter, who was to be given a carbon copy. In this SIR, BLOs are not accountable for any changes made by a voter in his details,” Jog said. He added that, in the ongoing SIR, BLOs have filled the forms only when special camps are being organised.