NEW DELHI
The Election Commission of India (ECI) has directed State election officers to prepare for the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls by September 30, signaling a nationwide voter list update could commence as early as October-November.
At a recent conference in New Delhi, the Commission instructed Chief Electoral Officers (CEOs) to have their States’ voter lists, published after the last SIR, ready for immediate review. Most States had conducted their last SIR between 2002 and 2004 and have nearly completed mapping current electors against the previous lists. For instance, Delhi’s last intensive revision was in 2008, while Uttarakhand’s electoral roll from 2006 is available online for public reference. Similarly, Bihar’s 2003 voter list is being used as the cut-off for its ongoing SIR process.
The primary objective of this Intensive revision is to eliminate entries of illegal foreign migrants by verifying their place of birth, a move gaining importance amid recent crackdowns in several States against undocumented migrants, particularly from Bangladesh and Myanmar.
Following Bihar, the Commission plans to implement SIR across the country, ahead of Assembly elections scheduled in Assam, Kerala, Puducherry, Tamil Nadu, and West Bengal in 2026. State CEOs have already begun uploading historical voter lists on official websites to facilitate the process.
The ECI emphasized that the decision to conduct SIR lies solely with the Commission and not any other authority, underscoring the importance of a uniform and transparent electoral roll update ahead of upcoming polls. This intensive revision aims to ensure the integrity of the electoral process while addressing national concerns regarding foreign voter entries.
