A day after a petition was filed in the Supreme Court challenging the Election Commission’s (EC) controversial Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar, the poll panel wrote to Chief Electoral Officers (CEOs) of all other states on July 5, directing them to begin preparations for a similar exercise — this time with January 1, 2026, as the qualifying date, The Sunday Express has learned.
The qualifying date mentioned in the letter indicates that while the nationwide exercise may start soon, a final timeline for the rest of the country is yet to be decided — though the aim is to include everyone who turns 18 years of age by January 1, 2026.
Since 2003 has been chosen for Bihar as “probative evidence of eligibility” —meaning voters on the electoral roll that year, when the last intensive revision was done, will be presumed Indian citizens unless proven otherwise—other states are also likely to use the year of their last intensive roll revision as the cut-off for presumption of citizenship for existing voters. For instance, Delhi’s electoral roll was last intensively revised in 2008.
In its instructions, the Commission — referring to paragraph 10 of its order dated June 24, when it formally announced the SIR in Bihar and said detailed guidelines for the rest of the country would follow — has asked all CEOs to complete “pre-revision activities.”
These include: rationalisation of polling stations (including identification of new buildings to ensure no polling station has more than 1,200 electors); filling up all vacant positions of key officials, from Block Level Officers (BLOs) and Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) to Assistant Electoral Registration Officers (AEROs), and supervisors who will undertake the enumeration on the ground; and conducting their training.
The EC’s missive is significant against the backdrop of the upcoming Assembly elections in 2025 in BJP-ruled Assam; TMC-ruled West Bengal; DMK-ruled Tamil Nadu; and Left-ruled Kerala. The Union Territory of Puducherry will also elect a new Assembly next year.
Whether the SIR in these four states — three of which are ruled by Opposition parties at the Centre — will be linked to the Assembly elections next year may depend on how the Supreme Court hearing on the Bihar exercise unfolds.
During the hearing on Thursday (July 10), the court raised concerns about the timing of the exercise and whether it could be delinked from the state election. Justice Joymalya Bagchi, part of the two-judge bench, flagged the risk of disenfranchising voters by removing names from the rolls just months before polling, even if the broader objective of cleansing the rolls is legitimate.
The Supreme Court eventually declined to restrain the EC from proceeding with its intensive revision of electoral rolls in poll-bound Bihar but suggested that the poll panel also consider Aadhaar, voter ID, and ration cards for the purpose of updating the rolls. If accepted, this would widen the ambit of the current 11-document list — which has already triggered widespread panic and confusion on the ground.
Under the EC’s June 24 order, any person not listed in the 2003 electoral rolls in Bihar — an estimated 2.93 crore individuals — must submit at least one of these documents to prove their eligibility (essentially, age and Indian citizenship) to be included in the final roll.
In effect, even voters who were added to the rolls after 2003 and have voted in subsequent Assembly and Lok Sabha elections will now have to prove their eligibility again.
The 11 documents include: any identity card or pension payment order issued to a regular employee or pensioner of any Central or State Government/PSU; any identity card, certificate, or document issued by Government/Local Authorities, Banks, Post Office, LIC, or PSU prior to July 1, 1987; a birth certificate issued by the competent authority; passport; matriculation or educational certificate issued by recognised boards or universities; permanent residence certificate issued by the competent state authority; forest rights certificate; OBC, SC, ST, or any caste certificate issued by the competent authority; the National Register of Citizens (where applicable); family register; and land or house allotment certificate issued by the government.
As the ongoing series in The Indian Express shows, Aadhaar, Voter ID, and ration cards are the documents most families in Bihar possess. The fact that none of these meets the current eligibility requirement has sparked concern among voters across the state — from Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s Harnaut in Nalanda to RJD chief Lalu Prasad’s Raghopur in Vaishali, and in the Seemanchal region.
The issue is particularly pressing for marginalised groups, including Extremely Backward Classes (EBCs) and minorities, prompting many to call it an “NRC through the backdoor.”
That’s why the three newly suggested documents may offer relief — they’re far more accessible. As reported by this newspaper Friday, of the three, Aadhaar and Voter ID cards are nearly ubiquitous in Bihar, while ration cards are available to two-thirds of the population.
The ECI’s stated reason for the exercise is the “significant change” in the electoral rolls over time, with large-scale additions and deletions since the last intensive revision.
It has attributed these shifts to rapid urbanisation, increased migration for education and livelihood, and the tendency of voters to register at new addresses without deleting their names from the rolls of their previous residence. Hence, duplicate entries have become increasingly common.
This situation, according to the ECI, warrants an intensive drive to verify each person before they are enrolled as an elector. Officials have also cited repeated complaints from political parties — including Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s allegation of manipulation in Maharashtra’s electoral roll — as a factor behind the renewed push to clean up and standardise the rolls.
This isn’t the first intensive revision of electoral rolls. Such exercises — in all or some parts of the country — have previously been undertaken in 1952–56, 1957, 1961, 1965, 1966, 1983–84, 1987–89, 1992, 1993, 1995, 2002, 2003, and 2004. However, the current revision announced on June 24 differs from previous drives in two key aspects, first reported by The Indian Express on July 10.
One, for the first time, the SIR — essentially a fresh preparation through door-to-door enumeration — places the burden of proof on already enrolled voters (on the question of citizenship) at the draft roll stage. Two, it disregards the “sanctity” of the existing electoral roll — something the Election Commission (EC) had consistently instructed its officers to uphold in all earlier revisions.
Booth-level officers during electoral roll revisions for upcoming Bihar legislative assembly election at a polling booth in Patna. (Photo: Rahul Sharma) 
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