My name is Poonam, and I live in Jodhpur, Rajasthan. I began my career in real estate and marketing, and moved to the development sector in 2022, where my sister was already working. Since then, I have worked with various organisations on sanitation projects in communities and on gender equality in schools. In my most recent role, I worked on a survey about the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voter lists.
The Election Commission of India began the SIR in Rajasthan in late 2025. The stated purpose of the SIR is to ensure that every eligible citizen is included in the voter list and that no ineligible person is. Yet during the exercise, my name was struck off, and so was my father’s.
My father’s government job kept us moving from one posting to the next. When he retired in 2017, we came back to the Rawati area of Jodhpur, where our family is from. Our Aadhaar and ration cards were updated to the new address easily. However, the voter ID card was another matter. In 2019, my father applied for a new one at the e-Mitra centre in Jodhpur. He went back at least 10 times and paid money but was never given a receipt or an application number. Each time, he was told the card would come home, but it never did.
Around the same time, I got my first voter ID card made, using a copy of a neighbour’s voter ID as a reference. Back then, a neighbour’s or a relative’s card was enough. Now chasing our voter IDs has become part of my everyday routine.
07.00 AM
My day starts at seven, and there is a lot to get done before I leave for work. Tea goes on the stove while lunch gets started beside it. The dishes and clothes come next. Then I get my nephew and niece ready and drop them off at school.
When I was working on the SIR survey, I had to be in the field by 8 AM, because the daily wage labourers we were interviewing leave for work by nine. Some of them were people from villages who came to the city for work. That hour before they left was all the time they had for us. We covered some booths in nearby assembly constituencies. Many did not know their names had been removed. Some were women who had moved to other states after marriage. For others, there was no valid reason. They told me they vote in every election, so why had their names been cut?
01.00 PM
This is usually my lunch break at the office. One afternoon, while I was out at work, the Booth Level Officer (BLO) came to our house. The BLO was going door to door and told my nephew that I should come to the school in our area, where an SIR camp was going on, to resolve issues regarding my name in the SIR list.
The next day, I took time off work and went to the school. I was told that the SIR was intended to check whether people were citizens of this country. Then I was handed a form that asked for my voter ID details, and for those of my family. I had my father’s old voter ID number from Bhopalgarh, where we lived before moving to Jodhpur. I did not have my mother’s voter ID number, as she passed away in 2002. Her card had been made at the same time as my father’s, so I worked out her number from his, believing the two differed by just two digits.
When your name is removed, you are treated as if you are dead, as if you are not a person at all. We are alive, but we are being asked to prove who we are.
When I went back to submit the form, it was rejected. The BLO told me my name was being removed from the voter list because my parents’ names were not on the 2002 voter list. I sat down with the 2002 Bhopalgarh list and went through it myself, serial number by serial number. My parents’ names were not there. Neither were the names of many others.
My father is a retired government employee and a pensioner. He has his Aadhaar card, his ration card, everything. His name was removed from the list based on his old voter card, even though it had never appeared on the Jodhpur list.
I laid out his papers in front of the officials, including his Aadhaar card, old voter ID and retirement documents, and told them how hard it had been to register him as a new voter. I asked whether his new voter ID could be made. Despite my repeated pleas, they said no. Then the BLO’s patience ran out. “Now you will have to go to court. Go there and answer. Who knows, maybe you are not from this country.” I was stunned. Another member of the team calmed me down and explained that, for now, names were only being removed and that additions would resume in three to six months. They told me not to worry. Someone told me the BLO was probably irritated because they were working with so few resources.
When your name is removed, you are treated as if you are dead, as if you are not a person at all. We are alive, but we are being asked to prove who we are.
During my survey work, a retired man told me, “The voter list is made every five years, but the SIR list is made every 20 years. If your name is not on the SIR list, your children’s names will not be on it either.” I meant to look into what he said but could not. What I do know is that people are afraid that one small mistake in their papers will cost their children their rights.
06.00 PM
I get home from the office and ask my nephew and niece about their day, and I rest for a while. Then comes whatever work the morning rush left behind, usually the washing, and after that, dinner with my sister.
These days, my evenings also involve messaging the BLO on WhatsApp. I have been following up to get my name back on the voter list. After many messages, and copies of my Aadhaar card, my father’s Aadhaar card and his old voter card, the BLO sent me a new voter ID card on WhatsApp. My name, date of birth, address and father’s name were correct, but the mobile number on it was not mine. It does not belong to anyone in our family, and I had not given it when I applied. When I asked the BLO, they said, “This is what got updated in the system,” and told me it would be corrected automatically. But a new card was not what I was asking for, and it does not tell me whether my name is back on the voter list.
Lately, I keep wondering why our systems have to be so complicated.
My sister faced a similar issue during the SIR at her in-law’s home, as her name was also flagged because of the 2002 list. Her BLO, however, was calm, explained everything to her, and sorted it out over the phone. She has been trying to update her voter ID card, as her address and date of birth on it are still wrong. She was told that only one correction can be made at a time. Each one needs a fresh application and more money, and she has to keep going back to e-Mitra and the offices month after month. All this costs us time and money.
09.00 PM
At bedtime, I talk to the children about their studies. Then I write in my diary about the day. I have a new voter ID card now, but I still do not fully understand the difference between the regular voter list and the SIR list, or whether my name is on either.
Lately, I keep wondering why our systems have to be so complicated. With Aadhaar, you show a rent agreement and your address changes. However, it is not that simple with a voter ID. When I vote, I prove that I am part of this democracy. Until the system works for the people it is meant to count, countless legitimate citizens like us will have to keep proving that we exist.
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Know more
- Learn how the 2025 SIR differs from the last revision in 2002-03.
- Learn why a voter ID card does not guarantee a place on the electoral roll, and how to get back on it.
