'Mark VIP': Election Commission adds fresh feature in app for officials amid SIR

The Election Commission of India (ECI) introduced a feature called ‘Mark VIP’ in the app used by booth level officers (BLOs) in the middle of the ongoing special intensive revision exercise (SIR) in 16 states and three Union territories, HT has found.

Officials at Delhi’s chief electoral officer’s (CEO’s) office said that the app – named BLO App – was updated on July 30 with the new feature. “The CEO office cannot make any changes to the apps or the software. Orders come directly from the commission,” said an official in the CEO’s office who did not want to be named.

Records from the Apple Appstore showed that the update to the app was logged on July 31, with the descriptor “mark VIP elector related changes”. No such record of changes was available on the Android Playstore. HT reached out to ECI officials for a comment on why the feature was introduced and under what authority, but did not get a response till Thursday night.

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Introduced after West Bengal SIR

At the time of the update, the SIR was in the enumeration phase in Delhi and four other states, and in the claims and objections phase in 10 others, including Odisha and Andhra Pradesh.

HT spoke to BLOs in Delhi, Haryana and West Bengal. BLOs in Delhi and Haryana confirmed that the module was live on their apps. Those from West Bengal said it was not present when the SIR began in the state in November 2025.

“The ‘Mark VIP’ feature wasn’t included in the BLO app in 2025 when SIR was held in West Bengal. It was introduced more than a month ago. It helps the BLO to mark the person as VIP during verification,” said a member of the BLO association in West Bengal, requesting anonymity.

The development comes amid a controversy over VIP voters in the Capital after several prominent people were sent logical discrepancy notices, including Delhi chief minister Rekha Gupta, former chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, former deputy prime minister LK Advani, external affairs minister S Jaishankar, and election commissioner SS Sandhu.

To be sure, the provision to mark some voters as VIP has existed in the EC rules and manual since 2018. In Delhi, for example, the list of VIP electors is about 3,000 strong, said a second official in the Delhi CEO’s office, requesting anonymity. Rules say that VIP voters can be automatically added to the draft roll but they are not immune to claims and objections notices, which might explain why many prominent people were served logical discrepancy notices.

Eases enumeration process for ‘VIP holders’

“The feature ‘Mark VIP’ is like a consolidation exercise. Once a BLO marks an elector as VIP with an asterisk after visiting the residence of a voter, it is vetted by the AERO and ERO and subsequently by the office of the chief electoral officer, Delhi,” said a senior official from the New Delhi district. The official added that there were around 1,000 VIP electors in the district.

The second official from the Delhi CEO office cited above said BLOs were always given lists of VIP voters or voters from different age groups. “This has been done to ensure that we can facilitate them during the time of elections,” this official said.

A BLO from Kalkaji said the update was introduced to identify VIP voters and ensure they do not face any trouble with forms. “Even though we visit everyone’s house, a VIP voter is a VIP voter. We had to identify such people in our area and make sure their forms were processed before those of others,” said the BLO.

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The Election Commission of India’s March 2023 Manual on Electoral Rolls provides for the flagging of “marked electors” in the electoral database. This includes MPs, MLAs and MLCs, holders of declared offices, and personalities from fields such as arts, culture, journalism and sports, as well as members of the judiciary and public services. EROs are directed to ensure that these electors appear in the draft roll so that necessary documents can also be collected during the period of claims and objections.

“This means that the names of the VIP electors will be added to the electoral rolls irrespective of whether they have filled the enumeration forms. However, they will not be immune from being served notices. They will not have to visit hearing centres and they will be facilitated,” said the second official cited above.