The exercise also aims to verify place of birth details as part of measures to identify illegal migrants
NEW DELHI: The Election Commission has informed chief electoral officers (CEOs) that the special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls will commence in the remaining 22 states and Union Territories from April.
In a letter issued on Thursday, EC secretary Pawan Diwan directed the CEOs to complete preparatory work for the exercise at the earliest. The nationwide SIR had been ordered in June last year, with Bihar excluded as the exercise had begun there in June 2025.
The forthcoming phase will coincide with the first phase of Census 2027 — the Houselisting and Housing Census — scheduled between April and September. Poll officials said both exercises would proceed without conflict.
The communication was addressed to CEOs of Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Chandigarh, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Ladakh, Maharashtra, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Delhi, Odisha, Punjab, Sikkim, Tripura, Telangana and Uttarakhand.
After completion of the Bihar exercise, the EC had announced SIR in 12 states and Union Territories, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Puducherry, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Lakshadweep, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan.
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court on Thursday declined to entertain a public interest litigation seeking directions to the EC to conduct SIR in poll-bound Assam. A Bench headed by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, along with Justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul M. Pancholi, noted the poll panel’s submission that final electoral rolls had already been prepared in Assam and that the petition had become infructuous.
According to the EC, the SIR exercise involves comprehensive revision of electoral rolls, including enrolment of new voters, verification of existing entries and deletion of ineligible names to ensure accuracy and transparency ahead of future elections.
The exercise also aims to verify place of birth details as part of measures to identify illegal migrants, officials said.
