EC Meets State Poll Officers to Finalise Pan-India Voter List Cleanup Plan
Top EC officials discuss phased rollout of special intensive revision aimed at purging voter rolls of illegal entries; exercise likely to start with states facing polls in 2026
New Delhi: With plans to start Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral roll across the country soon, the Election Commission of India (ECI) is holding a two-day conference with the Chief Electoral Officers (CEO) of the States and Union Territories to discuss the roll out plan to clean up the voter lists. This is the second meeting in two months between the ECI and the CEOs for this nation-wide exercise.
The conference was presided over by Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar in the presence of Election Commissioners Dr. Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Dr. Vivek Joshi.
Among other issues of preparedness etc, the deliberations will also focus on how to overcome challenges and controversies that plagued the just concluded Bihar SIR. Sources said that there was a strong opinion within the top EC brass to hold SIR in phases, beginning with the states going for assembly elections next year. Assembly elections in Assam, Kerala, Puducherry, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal are due in 2026. Besides these five states, SIR could be held in a few other states in the first phase.
At the same time, it was also felt to not to go for SIR in states where local body elections are taking place or are due, as the grassroots poll machinery is busy with it and may not be able to focus on SIR, officials said.
During the conference the ECI top brass assessed the preparedness of offices of the CEOs of all states and UTs. “The conference is being held as a follow up on the SIR preparedness conference held on September 10 during which all the States/UTs gave detailed presentations on the number of electors, qualifying date of last SIR and electoral roll in their respective State/UT as per the last completed SIR,” ECI officials said.
The Commission assessed the progress made on the directions previously issued to the CEOs to map the current electors with the electors as per the last SIR in the state and UT. The Commission also reviewed the status of appointment and training of District Electoral Officers, Electoral Registration Officers, Assistant Electoral Registration Officers, Booth Level Officers and Booth Level Agents.
