The Election Commission (EC) is set to launch the first phase of the pan-India Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voters’ lists next week, starting with 10 to 15 states, officials said on Saturday.
The exercise will include states scheduled to go to polls in 2026, such as Assam, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, Kerala, and West Bengal, as part of a nationwide effort to update and clean up the electoral rolls.
Officials added that the EC is expected to announce the first phase of the SIR by the middle of next week, covering the initial set of states.
Officials said that the Election Commission will not conduct the electoral roll cleanup in states where local body elections are underway or upcoming, as the poll machinery will be preoccupied with those elections. In such states, the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) will be carried out in later phases.
The voters’ list cleanup exercise has concluded in Bihar where the final list with nearly 7.42 crore names was published on September 30.
Biahr will go to polls in two phases, on November 6 and November 11, and the counting will take place on November 14.
The Commission has already held two conferences with state chief electoral officers (CEOs) to firm up the SIR rollout roadmap. Most states had the last SIR of the voter list between 2002 and 2004.
Most have nearly completed the mapping of current electors with the voters according to the last SIR held in their respective states or Union territories.
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The main objective of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) is to identify and remove foreign illegal migrants by verifying individuals’ places of birth.
