EC announces pan-India SIR: 12 states to be covered under phase 2; zero appeal against Bihar survey, says poll panel

The Election Commission of India on Monday announced pan-India Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voters' list or electoral rolls. The phase 2 of the survey would be carried out in 12 states/UTs. "The second phase of SIR (Special Intensive Revision) is about to be carried out in 12 States/UTs," CEC Gyanesh Kumar said.

He further noted that there were zero appeal filed against the phase 1 of SIR in Bihar. "I extend my greetings to the voters of Bihar and bow before the 7.5 crore voters who took part in a successful SIR. The Commission also met election officials from all 36 states and discussed the process in detail,” he added.Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Kerala, Assam and Puducherry are scheduled to go to polls next year.

On October 7, the top court asked the EC to provide details of 3.66 lakh voters who were part of the draft voter list but were excluded from the final electoral roll prepared after Bihar's SIR exercise, saying there is "confusion" over the matter.On September 30, the EC, while publishing the final electoral list of the poll-bound Bihar, said the total number of electors has come down by nearly 47 lakh to 7.42 crore in the final electoral roll from 7.89 crore before SIR.The final figure has, however, increased by 17.87 lakh from 7.24 crore electors named in the draft list issued on August 1, which had removed 65 lakh voters from the original list on various accounts, including deaths, migration and duplication of voters.

While 21.53 lakh new electors have been added to the draft list, 3.66 lakh names have been removed, resulting in a net increase of 17.87 lakh.The assembly elections in Bihar will be held in 121 seats of the 243-member Assembly on November 6, while the remaining 122 constituencies will go to polls on November 11. The counting of votes will be held on November 14.