The Election Commission of India (ECI) will begin a Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls on a pan-India basis beginning October, according to sources.
Preparations for the exercise were discussed during a meeting of the Chief Electoral Officers (CEOs) from all States and Union Territories on Wednesday, where the proposal received a green light. Assembly elections in Assam, Kerala, Puducherry, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal are due in 2026.
During the conference-cum-workshop, CEOs were asked how soon they could be ready for the revision. Most officials assured the Commission that basic groundwork would be completed by September, paving the way for an October launch.
While senior ECI officials made a presentation on the SIR policy of the Commission, the CEO of Bihar shared the State’s experience in implementing SIR. The poll body said a presentation on the strategies, constraints and best practices adopted was made by the CEO Bihar so that the CEOs of the rest of the country learn from their experiences.
The CEOs were told to keep the electoral rolls of their States, published after the last SIR, ready. Some state CEOs have already posted the voter list published after their last SIR on their websites.
“The CEOs gave detailed presentations on the number of electors, the qualifying date of the last SIR and electoral roll in their respective State, UT as per the last completed SIR. The CEOs also presented the status of digitisation and uploading of the Electoral Roll after the previous SIR on the State/UT CEO website,” the ECI stated.
The ECI also directed State CEOs to prepare a list of documents that can be used for verifying voters during the revision, sources said. These would be based on locally accepted and easily available certificates, which vary across regions.
SIR in poll-bound Bihar has come under attack from opposition parties, which questioned the timing of the exercise and claimed that crores of eligible citizens will be denied voting rights for want of documents. The Supreme Court has asked the EC to ensure that no eligible citizen is left behind.