SIR Drive in Bareilly Rekindles Family Bonds as Estranged Children Reach Out for Voter Details
SIR voter roll revision in Uttar Pradesh leads to emotional family reunions.
The Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bareilly district, Uttar Pradesh, has unexpectedly become a catalyst for reconciliation, with several cases emerging where estranged sons and daughters are reaching out to their parents after years of no contact. Many of these reunions involve individuals who had left home following love marriages, now compelled to reconnect to obtain essential voter identification details.
One poignant example is that of Snehlata, a 40-year-old resident of Jogi Nawada, who severed ties with her family 15 years ago after marrying her partner, Omkar Chaudhary, against her parents’ wishes. During the ongoing SIR process, officials requested her EPIC ID based on the 2003 voter list, which she could not recall. This led Snehlata to contact her parents after years of silence, seeking the information needed to update her voter registration. District election officials note such instances are becoming common during the verification exercise.
Similarly, in Bulandshahr, a woman named Sulekha, now known as Rihana after converting to Islam post-marriage, rekindled contact with her mother after nearly ten years due to SIR requirements for her father's EPIC ID and older electoral roll data. The district’s demographic makeup, particularly in areas like Tiriya Nijawat Khan Nagar Panchayat, has seen numerous inter-faith and inter-state marriages, complicating electoral documentation for many couples.
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In other parts of the district, fathers like Ramvir Singh and Keshav have received unexpected phone calls from children who had eloped years ago. These conversations, often emotional and long overdue, were prompted by the need to access historical voter data for enrollment in the updated rolls. Officials say that the SIR process has inadvertently served as a bridge reconnecting families fractured by time and social circumstances.
District authorities emphasize that while the primary purpose of the SIR exercise is electoral accuracy, the roll revision is also revealing deep social narratives, illustrating how government administrative procedures can sometimes foster unexpected human connections.
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