NEW DELHI: In preparation for a nationwide Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, election authorities in states and Union Territories have been directed to begin mapping electors from past special revisions with the current electoral list of 2025.
Officials said the last date will be treated as the qualifying date for this exercise, which in Delhi has now been revised to January 2002, replacing the earlier date of March 16, 2008.
Documents accessed by this newspaper confirmed the development.
"The Commission has ordered Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls to be undertaken in all the States and UTS. Further, it is informed the Commission has directed that mapping of electors of the electoral roll-2002 should be done vis-a-vis year 2025. This has already been communicated to all the districts with the direction to complete the exercise of mapping of electors by 26.09.2025 without fail," a letter issued to District Election Officers issued on Tuesday read.
"This is a very crucial exercise as a preparatory part of the SIR," another document highlighting minutes of a meeting held last week emphasised.
However, officials declined to elaborate on the reasons behind the change. When asked for clarification on the date change, the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of Delhi R Alice Vaz declined to comment, only stating that an official response would be issued soon. “We will soon issue a statement answering your queries regarding the exercise (SIR),” she said.
Top officials claimed that the mapping will help ensure that names are not duplicated and that electors are accurately verified before the revision process begins.
"If a person with 18 years of age has a name in the roll of 2025, then we can easily match whether his father’s name was in the previous roll. This is actually for the benefit of the electors,” Assam CEO Anurag Goel explained while speaking to this newspaper.
However, sources indicated that the new mapping exercise is aimed at preventing controversies encountered by the election commission during the SIR exercise in Bihar, especially allegations of targeted exclusions or manipulation of the rolls.
The qualifying dates differ across states. Assam has set January 2005 as the reference point, while Tamil Nadu will rely on January 2002’s roll for rural areas and 2005’s for urban constituencies.
"We will submit the mapping data soon to the ECI and wait for further instructions regarding the SIR exercise,” said Tamil Nadu CEO Archana Patnaik.
Sources suggest that the ECI’s timing is strategic, as Assembly elections are scheduled in Assam, Kerala, Puducherry, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal in April-May next year. They also indicated that the Commission may fast-track the nationwide SIR, expected to commence by the end of the year, to ensure the rolls are airtight well before polling begins.