Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar has emphasised pure electoral rolls in the country saying that it is bedrock of any democracy. Mr Kumar said this while addressing the National Round Table Conference of Election Commission of India and State Election Commissioners at Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi today. The Chief Election Commissioner said that the Special Intensive Revision exercise was started to include all the eligible electors in the electoral rolls while ineligible electors should be excluded from it.

He said, the process of SIR was started in Bihar which was completed flawlessly with no appeal. Mr Gyanesh Kumar said that currently SIR is underway in 12 States and out of them 11 States have published their electoral rolls. The Chief Election Commissioner also said that now time has come to have much needed synergies between ECI and State Election Commissions.

Speaking on the occasion, Election Commissioner Dr Sukhbir Singh Sandhu said that the main idea behind organising the conference is to enhance cooperation between Election Commission of India and State Election Commissioners and sharing best practices of electoral process. Election Commissioner Dr Vivek Joshi said that the cornerstone of country’s democratic process is the purity of the electoral roll to ensure that no eligible citizen is left behind.

The Conference is being chaired by Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. The primary objective of the Conference is to foster synergies in the functioning of Election Commission and State Election Commissioners with respect to electoral processes and logistics within their legal frameworks. During the day-long conference, discussions will focus around sharing of technology, EVMs and Electoral Rolls, besides strengthening of electoral processes. The Round Table Conference is being held after a gap of 27 years. The last such Conference was held in the year 1999.