The Election Commission of India Monday announced the second phase of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in 12 states and Union Territories, with house-to-house visits by Booth Level Officers (BLOs) starting from November 4.
Announcing the schedule, Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar said SIR will be held in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Gujarat, Kerala, Lakshadweep, Madhya Pradesh, Puducherry, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal. He said Assam has been left out for now because the citizenship criteria differ in the state, and the SIR would be held later.
The draft roll would be published on December 9, and the final electoral roll on February 7, 2026. Electors will be matched to the last intensive revision rolls of 2002-2004; all those who can’t be matched to the previous rolls will be issued notices and required to submit documents to establish their eligibility.
The announcement follows the EC’s order on June 24 for an SIR of electoral rolls for the whole country, starting with Bihar, as Assembly elections were due in the state. As per the SIR order, all registered electors as on the date of the order were required to fill out enumeration forms within a month to remain on the draft roll.
All those electors who were registered after the last intensive revision, which was in 2003 in the case of Bihar, were required to submit documents to establish their eligibility, including citizenship. The Bihar SIR concluded with the publication of the final electoral roll on September 30, with the total number of electors shrinking by 6 per cent to reach 7.42 crore.
In the case of Bihar, CEC Kumar said there have been no appeals against the decisions of the state’s Electoral Registration Officers.
