Simultaneous Elections Back in Focus as SIR Frenzy Builds
PM Narendra Modi with RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat in Ayodhya. (Image BJP on X)
The BJP thinking heads believe that it will only be a matter of timing for Prime Minister Narendra Modi to time “his next disruption.”
By MANISH ANAND
New Delhi, November 28, 2025 — Adarsh Rawat (Name changed) has visited an upscale housing society in Greater Noida for at least a dozen times since the commencement of the special intensive revision of the electoral roll by the Election Commission. One afternoon as he looked exhausted with a heavy pile of files and a big crowd pressing him with their requests, the maintenance manager almost dragged him to take his lunch.
Despite several visits to this housing society, Rawat, the Booth Level Officer (BLO), is short of completing his mandate—to verify credentials of voters. As the housing society is just seven years old, all the voters have either shifted from other places or they’re new additions.
“You must do something urgently. Else, one-third votes from here will be deleted,” he pleaded with the estate manager of the housing society. December 4 is the deadline for the completion of the ongoing SIR in Uttar Pradesh.
The exercise is taking place in several states with similar frenzy. Over 20 BLOs have been booked for “negligence” in Ghaziabad alone. Scores of BLOs have died by suicide, alleging harassments. Deaths of BLOs have been reported from Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, and other states.
The Trinamool Congress MPs will sit across with the Election Commission of India (ECI) officials on Friday to argued that the SIR in the past had been done in months unlike just one month given by the poll body in the current phase. Tamil Nadu government has knocked at the doors of the Supreme Court.
The lightning speed of the SIR is also stoking rumours and wild weighing of future possibilities. In the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the belief is sinking that “this is the best time to finish off the Opposition Congress.”
The Bihar poll debacle of the Opposition has brought a sense within the BJP that the “Congress’ terminal decline has gained pace after a reversal in fortunes seen in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.” They also argue that the decimation of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) signals that the regional “fiefdom in West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and elsewhere can also be demolished.”
The completion of the SIR in the states will coincide with the Winter session of parliament. A year has gone by since the tabling of a bill for simultaneous elections. Reports said that the committing sifting clauses in the bill believe that it doesn’t require the nod of the state Assemblies. That sends the bill envisaging single election in the country on a Fastlane.
The ongoing SIR and the electronic database also enable the prospect of single electoral roll in the country as recommended by the Ram Nath Kovind committee on simultaneous elections.
With a single electoral roll, which is achievable, the BJP thinking heads believe that it will only be a matter of timing. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will decide the date of “his next disruption.”
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