Election Commission likely to roll out pan-India voter List revision phase wise

New Delhi, Oct 10: The Election Commission (EC) is expected to launch a pan-India special intensive revision (SIR) of the voters’ list in phases, beginning with selected states, including those where assembly elections are scheduled next year, officials said.

However, the EC will not conduct the electoral roll cleanup in states where local body elections are underway or imminent, as the grassroots poll machinery will be occupied and unable to focus on the SIR exercise.

Assembly polls are due in Assam, Kerala, Puducherry, Tamil Nadu, and West Bengal in 2026. In addition to these five states, the SIR may also be carried out in a few other states in the first phase.

The voters’ list revision has already concluded in Bihar, where the final list, containing nearly 7.42 crore names, was published on September 30.

Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar stated on Monday said that preparations are underway to launch the SIR across all states, with the final decision on its rollout to be taken by the Election Commission. Speaking at a press conference to announce the Bihar assembly polls, CEC Kumar noted that the EC had unveiled its plan for a pan-India SIR while rolling out the Bihar SIR on June 24.

The work is on and the three commissioners will meet to decide on dates for various states to launch their respective SIRs, he said.

According to officials, the EC top brass had asked the state chief electoral officers (CEOs) at a conference here earlier this month to be ready for SIR roll out in the next 10 to 15 days. But for the sake of greater clarity, September 30 deadline was set for them to be ready for the electoral roll cleanup exercise.

The CEOs have been told to keep ready the electoral rolls of their states published after the last SIR.

Several CEOs have already put the voter list published after their last SIR on their websites.

The website of the Delhi CEO has the 2008 voter list when the last intensive revision took place in the national capital.

In Uttarakhand, the last SIR took place in 2006, and that year's electoral roll is now on the state CEO website.

The last SIR in states will serve as the cut-off date, just as the 2003 voter list of Bihar was used by the EC for intensive revision.

Most states had the last SIR of the voter list between 2002 and 2004. Most of the states have nearly completed mapping of current electors with the voters according to the last SIR in the state or Union Territory (UT).

The primary aim of the SIR is to weed out foreign illegal migrants by checking their place of birth.

The move assumes significance in the wake of a crackdown in various states on illegal foreign migrants, including from Bangladesh and Myanmar.

PTI