EC announces Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls in 12 states, UTs

According to the EC, the exercise will be carried out in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Gujarat, Kerala, Lakshadweep, Madhya Pradesh, Puducherry, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal. Assembly elections are due in Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Puducherry and West Bengal early next year.

In the second phase, the EC has expanded its indicative list of 11 documents that electors can submit to 13, adding Aadhaar and an extract of the Bihar SIR roll. All those born after July 1, 1987, would be required to submit eligibility documents for themselves as well as their parents. The Bihar SIR roll can be submitted as a proof of electors’ parents. Aadhaar can be submitted as a proof of identity, and not citizenship, the EC said.

Monday’s announcement follows the EC’s order on June 24 for an SIR of electoral rolls for the entire country, starting with Bihar as Assembly elections were due in the state.

For the second phase of SIR, the enumeration period will start on November 4, with 5.33 lakh booth level officers (BLOs) conducting house-to-house visits to have enumeration forms filled. The draft roll, which will be published on December 9, will include all those whose forms have been received, the EC said.

When asked why Assam, where Assembly elections are due in 2026, had been left out for now, Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar said the Citizenship Act had separate provisions for Assam and the Supreme Court-monitored National Register of Citizens process in the state was about to be completed. He said the electoral roll revision for Assam would be ordered separately.

EC officials said the states were chosen based on the level of preparation, which was assessed during a two-day conference of Chief Electoral Officers last week — apart from the three states and Puducherry where polls are slated next year.

Urban areas, like Delhi and Chandigarh, had lower levels of matching electors to the previous intensive revision rolls, likely due to frequent migration, they said. Factors like ongoing local body elections and weather conditions in northern states were also taken into account.

The draft list would be published on December 9 this year and the final electoral roll on February 7, 2026. Electors will be matched to the last intensive revision rolls of 2002-2005, and those who cannot trace themselves or their parents or relatives on that list will be issued notices and required to submit documents to establish their eligibility afresh.

The BLOs have been tasked with helping electors trace their details on the previous rolls, but electors can also do so themselves on the EC’s voters’ portal. According to EC sources, a substantial number of electors in the 12 states and UTs have been matched with the last intensive revision roll.

Explaining the need for an SIR now, the CEC said: “For the past few decades, almost all political parties have continuously complained about the impurity of the electoral roll.”

He said an SIR had been conducted eight times from 1951 to 2004. In the time since the last intensive revision, he said, there had been many changes to the electoral roll due to frequent migration, voters being registered at more than one place, dead electors not being removed and wrongful inclusion of foreigners.

In instructions issued to the CEOs of the 12 states and UTs on Monday, the EC said the Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) of Assembly constituencies would issue notices to all those electors, after publication of draft roll, who cannot be linked to the previous SIR electoral rolls “to ascertain their eligibility”.

As per the June 24 SIR order, all registered electors as on the date of the order were required to fill enumeration forms within a month in order to remain on the draft roll. All those electors who were registered after the last intensive revision, which was in 2003 for 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 six per cent to 7.42 crore. The CEC said there has not been any appeal against the decisions of Electoral Registration Officers in Bihar.

The June 24 order of the EC has been challenged in the Supreme Court through a batch of petitions questioning the EC’s power to check citizenship of all registered electors as well as the process adopted in Bihar.

Asked about the conduct of the SIR in West Bengal, where Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has come out against the move, terming it an “NRC through the backdoor”, the CEC said there was no “impasse” and all constitutional bodies would carry out their roles.

When asked about the SIR clashing with the local body elections due in Kerala, the CEC, a retired Kerala-cadre IAS officer, said the polls had not been notified yet.

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