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Though the EC’s media invitation did not specify the subject, officials said the briefing would pertain to the SIR schedule. (File)
The Election Commission (EC) will announce the schedule for the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in several states on Monday, officials said Sunday. The announcement will be made at a 4.15 pm press conference by Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi.
Though the EC’s media invitation did not specify the subject, officials said the briefing would pertain to the SIR schedule. Sources indicated the exercise could begin on November 1 and will likely cover the five states where Assembly elections are due in 2026 — Assam, Kerala, Puducherry, Tamil Nadu, and West Bengal — along with a few others. States where there are “peculiar circumstances” like ongoing local body polls may be excluded for now, a source said.
The SIR is a comprehensive exercise where electoral rolls are prepared afresh, requiring all registered voters to submit new enumeration forms. This differs from the annual or pre-election Special Summary Revision (SSR), which only adds or deletes names. Due to computerisation of the electoral rolls, an intensive revision has not been carried out in about two decades across the country. In the case of Bihar, the last intensive revision was carried out in 2003.
In its June 24 order authorising the SIR, the EC had said: “The Commission has noted that during the 20 years significant change in electoral roll has taken place due to additions and deletions on a large scale over this long period. Rapid urbanisation and frequent migration of population from one place to another on account of education, livelihood and other reasons have become a regular trend.”
The EC said that many electors register at a new address without deleting their names from previous rolls, creating the possibility of duplicate entries. It also cited the potential inclusion of foreign nationals over time as another reason for conducting the intensive revision.
The June 24 order has been challenged in the Supreme Court. During the Bihar SIR, conducted earlier this year, 68.66 lakh names were deleted from the rolls — a 6 per cent reduction overall when the final list was published on September 30.
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