NEW DELHI, Oct 25: The Election Commission of India (EC) is set to launch the first phase of the pan-India Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the voters’ list next week, beginning with 10 to 15 states, officials said on Saturday.
The initial phase is expected to include Assam, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, Kerala, and West Bengal, all of which are due for Assembly elections in 2026. The revision exercise aims to update and clean up electoral rolls, ensuring accuracy and the removal of ineligible entries, particularly foreign illegal migrants, by verifying voters’ place of birth.
According to officials, the Commission is likely to make a formal announcement by the middle of next week, after which the process will be rolled out across selected states. States where local body elections are ongoing or imminent will be covered in subsequent phases, as their poll staff are currently engaged in election duties.
The EC has already conducted two nationwide conferences with state Chief Electoral Officers (CEOs) to finalise the SIR roadmap. Many states have uploaded the previous SIR voter lists on their official CEO websites for reference.
The last SIR in several states took place between 2002 and 2004 — for instance, Delhi last conducted one in 2008, Uttarakhand in 2006, and Bihar in 2003. The EC is now mapping current voter data against these old lists to detect anomalies and duplication.
The SIR process has already concluded in Bihar, where the final roll of 7.42 crore voters was published on September 30. The state will hold elections in two phases on November 6 and 11, with counting on November 14.
Officials said the voter list cleanup exercise is part of the Commission’s broader effort to strengthen electoral integrity, especially amid nationwide crackdowns on illegal migrants from Bangladesh and Myanmar.