The Congress party has urged for the adoption of digitally readable voter lists and mandatory Aadhaar card verification in light of the Election Commission of India’s announcement of a Special Intensive Revision campaign aimed at updating Madhya Pradesh’s electoral rolls. Launched on Monday, this campaign is a crucial step in refreshing the state’s voter registry. During a press conference in Guna, former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Digvijaya Singh expressed concerns regarding the lack of digitally identifiable (machine-readable) voter lists provided to the Congress party. He reiterated the party’s demand that the voter lists shared with political representatives be in a machine-readable format to enable digital cross-verification and identify duplicate entries across constituencies.
Singh criticized the Election Commission for omitting Aadhaar cards from the acceptable forms of identification, contending that it is both a fundamental right and a key responsibility of the Commission to register every eligible citizen. He highlighted that, despite directives from the Supreme Court, the Commission has left out the Aadhaar card from the 11 documents that Booth Level Officers (BLOs) are supposed to verify during their door-to-door surveys. According to the Commission’s guidelines, all voters in the state will undergo fresh identity verification. Voter lists at polling stations across all 230 assembly constituencies will be carefully examined.
This thorough process aims to achieve several primary goals: enrolling new voters who have reached the age of 18, removing names of deceased individuals, those who have moved permanently, and duplicate entries. Moreover, it will correct inaccuracies in names, addresses, and other personal details to ensure that the voter lists accurately represent the current population. To carry out this task, BLOs will visit homes in both urban and rural areas, distribute forms, collect data, and verify identities using officially recognized documents. Madhya Pradesh currently has approximately 57.4 million eligible voters. The massive revision effort is supported by 65,014 polling booths, 119,940 BLOs, 762 assistant returning officers, and 55 district election officers working together.
The gender distribution of the voter base includes about 29.2 million men and 27.8 million women. An analysis of age demographics shows a youthful tilt in certain segments, with 1,119,161 voters aged 18 to 19, 13,388,424 in the 20-to-29 age range, 15,144,883 between 30 and 39, 11,528,407 aged 40 to 49, 8,131,709 in the 50-to-59 group, 4,815,858 aged 60 to 69, 2,211,505 between 70 and 79, and 752,420 citizens aged 80 and older. The second phase of the revision has sparked political debate.
The Election Commission described the initiative as a special and intensive effort, underscoring its commitment to upholding the integrity and reliability of the voter registry, thereby establishing a solid foundation for free and fair elections in the future.