Pan-India SIR of voter rolls set to begin next week: Which states likely in first phase?

The poll panel is likely to make the announcement of the first phase by the middle of next week

Taking a cue from Bihar despite controversies, a pan-India Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral lists is likely to begin next week, news agency PTI has reported. The exercise will begin with “10 to 15” states, mostly those that have elections next year, officials said on Saturday.

Officials with documents of voters during the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls in Bihar. (HT File Photo)

Among the states with elections in 2026 — thus SIR of voter rolls soon in a first phase — are Assam, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, Kerala and West Bengal. The poll panel is likely to make the announcement of the first phase by the middle of next week, officials told PTI.

However, the EC will not for now hold the voter roll cleanup exercise in states where local body elections are taking place or are due soon. Because, the grassroots machinery will be busy and may not be able to focus on SIR, said the officials.

The SIR concluded in Bihar with a final list of around 7.42 crore names, published on September 30. This meant about 50 lakh names dropped from the pre-SIR list, due to reasons such as death, shifting of homes, or duplicate entries.

Bihar will vote on November 6 and 11, and the counting will take place on November 14.

What will be cutoff criterion for voters?

Though Delhi does not have polls due soon, the website of its chief electoral officer has shared the 2008 voter list, when the last intensive revision took place in the national capital, for people to check if they are on it.

That's a crucial step in the direction of SIR.

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

The EC has has already held two conferences with state chief electoral officers to firm up the SIR rollout roadmap. Several CEOs have already put the voter lists published after their last SIR on their websites.

• Criterion: The last SIR in states will serve as the cut-off date, just as the 2003 voter list did in Bihar.
• When was last SIR? Most states had the last SIR of the voter list between 2002 and 2004.
• Mapping between lists: Most states have thus nearly completed the mapping of current electors with the names as per the last SIR held in their respective states or union territories.

The EC and several parties, including the ruling BJP, have said 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 migrants, including from Bangladesh and Myanmar.

Opposition parties see this as a communal exercise against minorities, mostly Muslims, and dangerous for communities that are dispossessed or backward.